Houweling's Tomatoes in British Columbia: History, What It Raises, How It Makes Money and How to Contact It
Profile updated November 2026
Houweling's Tomatoes is a family greenhouse company based in Delta, British Columbia, growing hydroponic tomatoes and cucumbers and supplying seedlings to farms across western North America. Founded by Dutch immigrant Cornelius Houweling and now led by his son Casey, it won Greenhouse Grower magazine's Excellence in Vegetable Production award in 2015.
| Location | Delta, British Columbia (also Camarillo, California and Mona, Utah) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1956 in Langley, BC, as a floral greenhouse and berry farm (company history) |
| Sectors | greenhouse tomatoes; cucumbers; vegetable seedlings; herbs |
| Scale | 50 acres in Delta, 125 acres under glass in Camarillo and a 28-acre farm in Utah (Greenhouse Grower profile, undated) |
| Why it is notable | 2015 Greenhouse Grower Excellence in Vegetable Production award; seedlings supplied to most greenhouse farms in western North America |
| Ownership | Family-owned; Casey Houweling is owner and head grower |
| Official website | Houweling's Tomatoes official site |
History of Houweling's Tomatoes
The company says Cornelius Houweling, a Dutch immigrant, started a floral greenhouse and berry farm in Langley in 1956. The family bought farmland in Delta for a tomato greenhouse, and the first Delta greenhouse, built in 1985, covered six acres. According to the company's history page, hydroponic greenhouses covered 50 acres within ten years.
Casey Houweling, Cornelius's son, is now owner and head grower. Greenhouse Grower describes expansion into Camarillo, California, beginning with a 20-acre farm in 1996 and adding 45 acres in 2008, and a recently acquired 28-acre farm in Mona, Utah.
What Houweling's Tomatoes Grows and Raises
The company grows hydroponic tomatoes, including beefsteak, and cucumbers, and supplies vegetable seedlings to its three locations and to most greenhouse farms in western North America. It also sells consumer herbs under the Home Harvest line and brands its produce by origin as BC Grown, CA Grown and Utah Grown.
Energy is central to the model. Greenhouse Grower says the Delta greenhouse uses combined heat and power cogeneration, using by-product heat and carbon dioxide for plant growth. The California site uses cogeneration engines that sell surplus electricity to the state and has solar panels, and the Utah farm uses waste exhaust from a nearby natural gas plant for heat and carbon dioxide.
How Houweling's Tomatoes Makes Money
Greenhouse vegetables
Tomatoes and cucumbers are the main products. Product lines include a premium tomato line called Signature Selection, per Greenhouse Grower.
Seedlings
Supplying seedlings to the company's own farms and to most greenhouse farms in western North America adds a business-to-business stream.
Herbs and brand
The Home Harvest herb line and the origin-based BC, CA and Utah Grown graphics support direct retailer relationships, which Greenhouse Grower says retailers increasingly seek.
Farm Insight: What Other Operators Can Learn from Houweling's Tomatoes
Make energy a product input. Cogeneration lets a greenhouse use heat and carbon dioxide that would otherwise be waste and, in California, to sell surplus electricity. Growers with large heating bills should look at what the plant can reuse.
Spread by region and by service. Three locations extend the growing season and reduce weather risk, while a seedling business serves other growers and builds relationships across the industry.
A greenhouse tomato lives a more pampered life than most of us, with a climate control schedule and a personal supply of carbon dioxide. For readers who enjoy farm satire, farm humor, ranch humor and farm jokes about cucumbers, cogeneration and tomatoes with excellent posture, farm.FM grows plenty. In Delta, the Houweling family keeps the vines tall and the engines running.
farm.FM, the nation's first satirical farm site, also runs Tractor Tunes, a country music lineup for farmers. For a sample of the writing, try the archive of one of its staff humorists.
How to Contact Houweling's Tomatoes
Website: https://www.houwelings.com/
No address, phone or email was verified from the official site in the sources reviewed. Acreage figures come from a Greenhouse Grower profile that may be several years old; confirm current facts with the company. Details checked November 2026.
Houweling's Tomatoes Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- Houweling's Tomatoes - Official site of the company
- Houweling's history page - Company history and family background
- Greenhouse Grower profile - Trade magazine feature on acreage, energy and brands
- Buy BC greenhouse growers feature - Provincial government feature on the BC greenhouse sector
- BC Hydro on the greenhouse produce boom - BC Hydro overview of the BC greenhouse sector, including its 6 million square metres of space
Houweling's Tomatoes FAQ
Where is Houweling's Tomatoes based?
It is based in Delta, British Columbia, with farms also in Camarillo, California and Mona, Utah.
What does it grow?
Hydroponic tomatoes and cucumbers, vegetable seedlings, and consumer herbs under the Home Harvest line.
Who runs the company?
Casey Houweling is owner and head grower; his father, Cornelius Houweling, founded the company.
How does it use energy?
Greenhouse Grower says the Delta greenhouse uses cogeneration, using by-product heat and carbon dioxide for plant growth.
Houweling's Tomatoes shows how a family greenhouse business can grow from a Langley floral operation into a multi-site grower and seedling supplier. For more operations across the province, see the British Columbia farms guide on this site.