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Our History

Martin's Family Fruit Farm is located between Waterloo and St. Jacobs, Ontario. Our farm has been in the Martin's family since 1820. For many generations it was operated as a mixed farming operation.

Leighton Martin is the sixth generation of Martin's to farm the land. In 1971, due in part to a suggestion from an exchange student from Yugoslavia who was working for Martin's at the time, Leighton planted 100 apple trees. A few years later he added several hundred more.

A small cold storage was built and in 1981 a larger building was added. Around this time we started to pack apples on a small scale to supply some local super-markets and restaurants. Many of these early, loyal customers we still supply.

The 1980's brought rapid growth both to the orchards and packing facilities. Over the years a total of 54 acres of trees were planted on the farm. In 1988 a 90-acre orchard was purchased in Harrow, Ontario. Some rented orchards were also added.

A new modern 30,000 square foot packing facility was added in 1996. Later in 1999 the plant was updated with a new computerized Aweta weight-sizer.

1100 acres were purchased in 1997 in Vienna, Ontario.

Martin's rounded out the operation in 2000 with a 340,000 bushel, state of the art CA (controlled atmosphere) storage facility in Vienna, Ontario, one of the most modern in Canada.

From 100 trees in 1971 to over 1100 acres today, Martin's is one of the leading Growers and Packers in Canada.

Today Leighton and his sons, along with many long-time employees and the management teams, both at Vienna and Harrow, oversee the production and marketing of quality Ontario apples for the local and export markets.

For all your apple needs, local and anywhere in the world, please contact our team at Martin's.

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