Tomato farmers considering suing Thomas Canning for lost crop

A group of tomato farmers from Essex County and Chatham-Kent have retained a lawyer and are considering suing the owner of a Lakeshore canning company for signing contracts to take their crop then forcing them to let it rot.

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The growers say theysigned contracts with Thomas Canning, but the factory was allegedly unable to accept the produce on time leaving $4-million worth in the fields.

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Owner Bill Thomas received a $3-million provincial grant back in 2014 to expand his facility, but tomato farmer Peter Epp said the expansion never happened and he used the funds to buy equipmentto increase his production capacity instead.

But the equipment didn't become operational until October, after the growing season, said Epp.

When reached by phone Tuesday, Bill Thomas declined to comment.

Fourteen growers said their crops sat spoiling while they waited for Thomas to buy them.

Epp's brother David said he lost about $300,000.

"He [Bill Thomas] assured he hadplans to increase his processing capacity and he had the financial wherewithal,the government $3-million grant, to financially be able to do that and so we proceeded to plant the crop," he explained.

David said he started to become concerned when he saw some of the new equipment still laying on a pallet in late July, just a few weeks before the crop was expected to come off in mid-August.

"I met with him August 20th which is already six days into when we indicated we'd have July fruit ready for him and he still wasn't open," he said."I knew then it wasn't going to happen this year."

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Thomas has promised to pay up, but that's a promise that he's already made a few times before, according to Epp.

The farmers have met with their lawyers to discuss their options and have scheduleda tentativemeeting with Thomas for Thursday.