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Sarnia

Chatham-Kent Now Growing More Tomatoes Than Essex

(With reporting by Jason Viau)

Is Leamington still the Tomato Capital of Canada even though Chatham-Kent grows more year after year?

For at least the last four years Kent County grows roughly 55% of the tomatoes while the Leamington-area harvests the rest.

Leamington has long branded itself as the Tomato Capital of Canada with plenty of signs around the region.

But agricultural specialist Kim Cooper says his municipality isn't interested in stripping Leamington of its title.

"That would just create some bad feelings. Windsor-Essex, we work very closely with them on a number of initiatives," says Cooper. "Why would you want to start creating a war over words?"

Cooper admits Leamington does process more tomatoes compared to Chatham-Kent.

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Chatham-Kent Agricultural Specialist Kim Cooper says they're not interested in stripping Leamington of it's title.

[audio mp3="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/COOPER-1.mp3"][/audio]

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Cooper says his municipality now grows about 55 per cent of the tomatoes while the Leamington area grows the rest.

[audio mp3="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/COOPER-2.mp3"][/audio]

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Cooper says while Leamington processes more tomatoes than Chatham-Kent, it doesn't grow as many.

[audio mp3="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/COOPER-3.mp3"][/audio]

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