Australian company Sundrop Farms has been declared the winner of the Tomato Inspiration Award 2016, as 100 tomato growers from across the world came together in Berlin for the third edition of the Tomato Inspiration Event.
The award, which was chosen by attendees, was given to Philipp Saumweber of Sundrop Farms at the Puro Skybar in Berlin during the annual Tomato Inspiration Event.
Previous winners of the award - Windset Farms (2014) and Duijvestijn Tomaten (2015), as well as the seven event partners, individually contributed to a longlist of inspiring producers or producer associations.
The quest for the best possible consensus resulted in four nominations: APS Salads from Cheshire (UK), the Flandria label of the joint Belgian auctions (LAVA) from Leuven (Belgium), Sundrop Farms from Adelaide (Australia) and Zeiler Gemüsevertrieb from Münchendorf (Austria), with Sundrop declared the winner.
The company is a developer, owner and operator of high tech greenhouse facilities that rely on nature’s abundance of sunlight and saltwater to produce high-value crops.
This year Sundrop Farms will open a 20 hectare state-of-the-art greenhouse facility in Port Augusta, South Australia, and the site will include four 5ha controlled greenhouses, a desalination plant and solar field comprising of a 115 metre high tower and more than 23,000 mirrors reflecting the sun’s energy.
The 20 hectare site will be the first of its kind globally, employing approximately 175 people and producing more than 17,000 tonnes of tomatoes annually using solar power, seawater and natural pest management
