United Fruit Companies

United Fruit Companies of Nova Scotia

The United Fruit Companies of Nova Scotia was a co-operative network of apple growers who operated the majority of the apple warehouses on the DAR and played a major role in shipping apples and related products from 1911 until 1957.

The United Fruit Companies were organized July 1912 as a co-op wholesale fruit marketing group founded initially by 51 farmers and fruit warehousing companies across the Annapolis Valley. It was formed by growers to work together to store, pack, ship and market their apples together in co-op warehouses all along the DAR. The United Fruit Companies was made up of the “Central”, headquarters staff in Kentville, and the “Locals”, the farmer-owned co-op fruit companies along the DAR, each with its own track-side warehouse. Many of the co-op warehouses had large lettered signage indicating their membership in the United Fruit Companies.

The United Fruit Companies allowed many smaller and medium growers to earn a better living from apple farming by reducing shipping costs and paying better prices a well as providing spray and fertilizer at discount prices. The cooperatives however, faced stiff competition from large and well-financed companies such as the British Canadian Fruit Association, W.H. Chase and Herbert Oyler.

The co-op operated two apple processing plants, one in Aylesford and for juice in Middleton which carried the popular juice line, "Scotian Gold" (which later provided the name for the Scotian Gold co-op. To cope with the collapse of the British apple export market, the United Fruit Company built a warehouses and food processing plant at Coldbrook in 1946 to process apples more efficiently and develop new products. Shrinking markets for fresh apples and pressure from big private fruit companies caused serious problems for the United Fruit Companies in the 1950s. However the company was able to reorganize in 1957 and reform as a new co-op under the name Scotian Gold, which still operates today.

Founding Co-op Warehouses of the United Fruit Companies and Managers 1912^[1]

Aylesford Fruit Company — A. E. McMahon
Banner Fruit Company, Bridgetown — F. H. Johnson
Berwick Fruit Company— B. W. White
Blomidon Fruit Company — J. D. Beqnett
Bridgetown Fruit Company — Geo. Chute
Canard Fruit Company — Captain Haliburton
Central Fruit Company, Clarence — A. P. Ramsey
Clarence Fruit Company — C. C. Barteaux
Cornwallis Fruit Company — A. S. Banks
Enterprise Fruit Company, Clarence, — H. Messenger
Falmouth Fruit Company — B. S. Davison
Grand Pre Fruit Company — A. H. Westcott
Granville Fruit Company — G. I. Salter
Kentville Fruit Company — Captain C. O. Allen
Kingsport Fruit Company— H. R. Kinsman
Kingston Fruit Company — F. W. Foster
Maple Leaf Fruit Company, Canning — C. W. McKeen
Mayflower Fruit Company, Kingsport— R. S. Kinsman
Middleton Fruit Company— A. P. Dodge
New Minas Fruit Company — E. H. Johnson
Paradise Fruit Company — F. W. Bishop
Pleasant Valley Fruit Company, Berwick — T. H. Morse
Port Williams Fruit Company — J. Elliott Smith
Round Hill Fruit Company — F. E. Mason
Rockland Fruit Company — G. P. Raymond
S. B. Chute Fruit Company, Berwick— S. B. Chute
Sheffield Fruit Company— J. E. Taylor
South Farmington Fruit Company —J. M. Palmer
Star Fruit Company, Paradise — Arthur T. Morse
Tupperville Fruit Company — Howard E. Bent
Waterville Fruit Company — F. M. Chute

Gallery

Detail Kentville Fire Insurance Map with Webster Street business including the United Fruit Companies Headquarters and the P. R. Ritcey Spur Aug. 1921.
Postcard of the United Fruit Companies canning factory and evaporator, Aylesford, with a DAR 4-6-0 locomotive, circa 1920s.
The United Fruit Companies, later Scotian Gold, apple processing and storage facility at Coldbrook, October, 1949.
Detail from photograph of the Canning Station showing the Maple Leaf Fruit Company Warehouse in the background with United Fruit Companies signage, 1930s.
Bridgetown Station left, Co-Op Store in back, and United Fruit Companies warehouse right - February 1976.
United Fruit Companies signage on the Aylesford Fruit Company Apple Warehouse, Aylesford, Sept 4 1989.
Photo from 2006 of signage on the Cornwallis Fruit Company apple warehouse in Waterville, a member of the United Fruit Companies co-op.