A greenhouse operator and its sole director in Leamington, Ontario, have been fined a combined $360,000 after the company exceeded a phosphorus discharge limit by more than 64 times, altered a stormwater pond without approval and exceeded permitted water-taking limits.
AMCO Farms Inc. was fined $340,000, plus a $85,000 victim fine surcharge, following convictions under Ontario’s Environmental Protection Act and Ontario Water Resources Act, according to a court bulletin. Company director Fausto Amicone was fined $20,000, plus a $5,000 victim fine surcharge, for failing to take all reasonable care to prevent the company from violating conditions of its Environmental Compliance Approval (ECA).
The convictions were handed down April 24, 2026, in Windsor.
AMCO owns and operates a 67-acre greenhouse complex at 523 Wilkinson Dr. in Leamington. Its ECA covers stormwater management facilities and sewage storage tanks, including four ponds that discharge to the Sturgeon Creek Drain and eventually into Lake Erie.
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According to Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP), the approval requires AMCO to operate and maintain its stormwater facilities so that a four-month rolling average limit for total phosphorus is not exceeded.
Annual reports and monthly laboratory results showed that between April 3 and July 5, 2024, AMCO’s four-month rolling average for total phosphorus reached 64.5 times the permitted limit.
In the court bulletin, the MECP said it also found that construction undertaken between March 2022 and September 2023 increased the storage capacity of one of the company’s stormwater ponds. As of November 30, 2024, AMCO continued to operate the altered pond without having submitted a completed application to amend its ECA to reflect the change.
AMCO was also convicted of violating its Permit to Take Water. The MECP issued the company a permit in September 2023 allowing it to take water from six wells. Regulatory self-reporting records showed AMCO exceeded its combined maximum permitted water-taking amount on several occasions between January 23 and June 23, 2024.
The offences occurred on various dates between March 14, 2022, and November 30, 2024.
The MECP’s Environmental Investigations and Enforcement Branch investigated and laid the charges that resulted in the convictions.
