ALGRO Farms grows, packs and ships premium Ontario shallots, cipollini, pearl onions and red onions — precision-grown, fully traceable from seed to shipment, and on your dock in 2–4 days.
Every variety has its own character — from mild and aromatic to spicy and hot. Here's where each onion earns its place.
Our signature crop
The majority of our acreage — and for good reason. Sweet, mild and aromatic with a refined finish that chefs build sauces on, and a retail staple that moves year-round.
Chef favourite
Flat, saucer-shaped and naturally sweet, cipollini caramelize like nothing else in the onion family. The onion restaurants ask for by name — and one of the hardest to source consistently. We grow them at scale.
White · Red · Gold
Grown in white, red and gold. Mild, jewel-like, and precision-graded on sizing screens — ready for pickling, stews, cocktail garnish, frozen blends and peeling lines.
Roller-sized, bruise-free
Deep colour, firm bulbs and a balanced bite. Our large reds are graded on a smooth roller sizer — never dropped through screens — so they arrive unbruised and shelf-ready.
Ask about seasonal availability
ALGRO Farms Inc. is a family-run operation in Norwich, Ontario. We grow on a circle of farms and soil types around our main farm — where everything is stored, graded and packed under one roof.
We're 13 miles south of Highway 401 at Woodstock, within a day's ride of our partners and main customers. That location, our grading and packing capacity, and a year-round climate-controlled storage program mean fresh specialty onions when you need them — not just at harvest.
Everything from seed to shipment is registered. The lot code is printed on every bill of lading (BOL) and on every bag — so any product can be traced back to its field in minutes.
Planting by seed begins in mid-April across a circle of farms and soil types around Norwich — each variety matched to its field, and registered from day one so every lot’s story starts at the seed.
Drip irrigation and fertigation put water and nutrients in the root zone, decision-support software guides every pass, and AI spot-spraying hits individual weeds — cutting herbicide use by 97%. Two years of green-manure crops in rotation keep the soil building between onion crops.
White pearls mature first, around mid-August, with the bulk of the crop harvested through September, weather permitting. Onions are pre-graded directly after harvest.
Graded onions go into 2,200 lb boxes, each unit tagged and registered before entering climate-controlled storage. That’s what makes true year-round supply possible — product is always ready for processing on customer demand.
Small onions are graded on sizing screens for the highest precision. Large red and pink onions run over a smooth roller sizer to avoid bruising. Every bag is labelled with its lot code.
The lot code travels with the load — printed on the bill of lading (BOL) and on every bag, for full traceability back to the field. From our packing house — 13 miles south of the 401 — partners receive product within 2–4 days of ordering, across Canada and the United States.
Our approach is simple: put every resource exactly where it works — in the root zone and on the leaves — and waste nothing anywhere else.
AI camera-guided spot spraying targets individual weeds instead of blanketing the field — a 97% saving in herbicides, and healthier onions.
Drip irrigation paired with decision-support software delivers water straight to the root zone — no evaporation, no doubled zones.
Smallest-droplet spraying cuts chemical drift into the environment, while variable-rate prescriptions and fertigation feed each row exactly what it needs.
Pull our paperwork straight from the website — our current certificates and documents, ready for buyers and auditors.
ALGRO Farms Inc.’s current CanadaGAP food safety certificate.
Open the PDFALGRO Farms Inc.’s current Safe Food for Canadians licence, issued by the CFIA — licence No. 7RN7NGWF, valid through August 28, 2028.
Fruit and Vegetable Dispute Resolution Corporation (DRC) certificate. ALGRO is a proud member of the DRC, which is related to PACA in the USA.
Open the PDFALGRO Farms Inc.’s general conditions — applicable on all our sales if not agreed otherwise.
Open the PDFContract volumes, consistent grading and a lot code on every bill of lading and bag — that's how our partners stay competitive and build their businesses.
Contract volumes across the full specialty range, packed to your spec and ready on demand from climate-controlled storage — delivered in 2–4 days.
Shelf-ready grading, strong colour and storage life — Ontario specialty onions with a story your customers can taste.
Fresh and peeling grades, precision screen-graded and packed to spec — consistent sizing that keeps peeling and processing lines running efficiently.
Current events, news and stories from the farm.
The future of agri-business and food tech is clean and green. We've partnered with Rumex GmbH to integrate clean growth solutions that will make our business sustainable and successful — thanks to the Government of Canada, through FedDev Ontario, Bioenterprise Canada and the Sustainable Growth and Adoption Program (SGAP).
ALGRO Farms Inc. is embracing mechanical and technological development to build on its tried and true traditional roots, into a long-term sustainable operation growing specialty onions. “There is no other way to grow,” says operations and sales manager Wilmer Melissant.
Read the full article →
The next generation of ALGRO Farms Inc. now partners in the business. Wilmer Melissant oversees daily operations and sales; Joris Melissant takes care of equipment; founder and president Bastiaan Melissant focuses on land and property.
ALGRO Farms Inc. was awarded government funding as one of twenty food and agri-food technology businesses in southern Ontario addressing sustainable growth through clean technology adoption and sustainability process enhancements.
Bioenterprise Canada announcement →
To serve our customers better, ALGRO Farms Inc. has expanded its facility with a cooled area for product ready to ship, where food inspections take place — plus two new loading docks at the east side of the facility to optimize logistic flow.
A day out on the water to thank the team behind the crop — highlights from ALGRO's Employee Appreciation Day, Summer 2024.
It's been nine years since Bas Melissant and his family emigrated from the Netherlands to Canada. He bought a farm near Norwich and founded the company that supplies specialty onions to the North American market — and reflects on the move and building the company from the ground up.
Read the full article →Onions are members of the Allium family and are rich in sulfur-containing compounds that are responsible for their pungent odours and for many of their health-promoting effects.
They are also a natural source of flavonoid antioxidants. Enjoyed as part of a balanced diet rich in vegetables and fruit, onions are widely associated with supporting heart health and overall wellness — one more reason this staple earns its place in just about every kitchen.
Tell us what you need — variety, grade and volume — and Wilmer will come back with availability and pricing. Prefer to talk? We're a phone call away.
264813 Maple Dell Road
Norwich, ON, Canada N0J 1P0Open in Google Maps →
Sales & Operations
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