Windset Farms in British Columbia: History, What It Grows, How It Makes Money and How to Contact It
Profile updated November 2026
Windset Farms is a greenhouse vegetable grower based in Delta, British Columbia, that began with a four-acre pepper greenhouse and now reports 298 acres of greenhouse production it owns and operates across Canada and the United States. A July 2026 trade report says its Delta site totals 130 acres after a new 38-acre ultra-lit greenhouse, 86 acres of it lit for year-round growing.
| Location | Delta, British Columbia; also Santa Maria, California |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1996, by Steven and John Newell (FoodChain Magazine) |
| Sectors | greenhouse tomatoes; peppers; cucumbers; specialty vegetables |
| Scale | Delta site 130 acres including 86 ultra-lit; 298 acres owned across Canada and the U.S. (Fresh Fruit Portal, July 2026) |
| Why it is elite | Among the largest greenhouse vegetable producers in North America by published acreage |
| Ownership | Family-founded; Steven Newell is President and CEO |
| Official website | Windset Farms official site |
History of Windset Farms
According to FoodChain Magazine, Windset Farms was founded in 1996 by brothers Steven and John Newell on their family farm in British Columbia, starting with a four-acre bell pepper greenhouse. In 2003 the company obtained a marketing agency licence from the BC Vegetable Marketing Commission, which let it build its own brand in the province.
The company later built a 168-acre greenhouse at Santa Maria, California, completed in 2011 and described in the same article as the largest single-site vegetable greenhouse in the United States. Back in Delta, expansions added lighting and new glass, culminating in the 38-acre ultra-lit project reported in 2026.
What Windset Farms Grows and Raises
Windset grows tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and specialty greenhouse vegetables, including the Sweeties seedless mini pepper aimed at snacking. It also works with grower partners in Canada, the United States and Mexico. The company says it supplies retailers and foodservice buyers in North America and Asia with year-round supply.
FoodChain Magazine reports that the Delta greenhouses use hydroelectric power from BC Hydro for lit production, LED lighting, wood-waste biomass boilers for heat, thermal screens that cut energy use by about 40 percent, and water recirculation that reuses 98 percent of water. These figures are the company's as reported by the magazine.
How Windset Farms Makes Money
Branded fresh vegetables
Windset sells under its own brand to retailers and foodservice. Holding a marketing agency licence from the BC Vegetable Marketing Commission gave it the right to market its own greenhouse vegetables in British Columbia.
Year-round supply through lighting
Ultra-lit greenhouses let the company harvest through the northern winter, when imports normally fill store shelves. The 2026 expansion adds 38 acres of this kind of production at Delta.
Partner growers and export
The company works with partner growers in Canada, the United States and Mexico and ships to Asian as well as North American customers, which extends the season and product range beyond its own glass.
Farm Insight: What Other Operators Can Learn from Windset Farms
Own the brand, not just the crop. Windset's licence to market its own vegetables meant it could build recognition and sell product with a name, rather than as a commodity box. Smaller growers can pursue the same idea through co-op or regional brands.
Energy and water are the cost centres in glass. Windset's reported use of hydro power, biomass heat, screens and recirculated water shows where greenhouse operators focus on margins. Any greenhouse grower can audit these same three lines first.
A greenhouse where the sun is given a lighting assistant is a new kind of farm, and the Newell brothers' four-acre pepper house growing into a few hundred acres is the sort of origin story that makes a farmer check the back garden. Browse farm.FM if you want farm satire, farm humor, ranch humor and farm jokes about tomatoes that never hear a weather forecast. Windset's growers, meanwhile, take their vegetables and their kilowatt hours very seriously.
If the name is new to you, farm.FM is the nation's first satirical farm site, with Tractor Tunes country music for farmers on the side. One of its regular writers keeps a whole archive of stories like that.
How to Contact Windset Farms
Website: https://windsetfarms.com/
No address, phone or email was verified in the sources reviewed; use the contact page on the official site. Details checked November 2026.
Windset Farms Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- Windset Farms - Official site of the grower
- Fresh Fruit Portal on the 38-acre Delta greenhouse - Trade report on the 2026 ultra-lit expansion and acreage
- FoodChain Magazine profile - History, locations and sustainability measures
- Statistics Canada 2021 Census of Agriculture - National release including greenhouse and nursery farm shares
- BC Census of Agriculture - Provincial ministry statistics page
Windset Farms FAQ
Where is Windset Farms?
It is based in Delta, British Columbia, and also operates a greenhouse at Santa Maria, California.
When was Windset Farms founded?
FoodChain Magazine reports it was founded in 1996 by Steven and John Newell.
What does Windset grow?
Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and specialty greenhouse vegetables, according to trade reports.
How big is the Delta operation?
A July 2026 report says Delta totals 130 acres, including 86 acres of ultra-lit greenhouse.
Windset Farms shows how far a four-acre pepper greenhouse can scale with branding, lighting and careful energy use. For greenhouse, berry, cattle and tree fruit context across the province, read the British Columbia farms guide.