Niagara has lost one of the pillars of its tender fruit and greenhouse industry with the February 13 passing of Alfred "Fred" Meyers. The 69-year-old president of operation at Meyers Farms died while surrounded by family and friends after a short battle with leukemia.
Fred was the son of Dutch immigrants Jim and Clazina Meyers, who established the Meyers Farm in 1955 in Niagara-on-the-Lake. At the age of 18, after a year studying horticulture at the University of Guelph, Fred became a partner in the business with his father.
His love of agriculture, balanced with an astute business mind, was instrumental in Meyers Farms' success, first in growing fruit and then in the floral industry. The business began with the purchase of 46 acres, 26 of which comprised peach orchards and the remainder holding smaller crops of cherries, pears, plums, prunes, and grapes.
The family business built its first greenhouses in the 1960s and began cultivating both vegetables and flowers indoors. During that decade, they also began growing peaches, nectarines, strawberries, pumpkins, carrots, and zucchini.
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