Village Farms settles insurance claim on its Texas greenhouse operations

Vancouver, BC. -- Village Farms International, Inc. (the “Company”) (TSX:VFF) announced today it settled its insurance claim for losses resulting from the major hail storm in Marfa, Texas on May 31, 2012. After meeting with Travelers Insurance Company, the parties agreed to a final payment of U.S. $11.25 million settling all outstanding claims pertaining to the hail storm. The parties have agreed to release each other from any further claims resulting from the hail storm, and the Company will drop its lawsuit currently pending in Federal Court.

Michael DeGiglio, CEO of the Company, issued this statement:

“We are pleased to have reached this fair and equitable settlement. In our 25 year history, we have never experienced such a catastrophic weather event, nor handled a claim of this magnitude, so we are thankful to have this completed and hope that it never occurs again. The catastrophic hail storm event took tremendous fortitude and perseverance from many employees across multiple disciplines over the last 15 months and we are extremely proud of all they have accomplished. While later than we had planned, this settlement will allow us to commence and complete repairs on 20 acres of the Marfa greenhouse, as well as provide sufficient proceeds to fund its start up. We expect to have the facility operational in the spring/summer of 2014. When these acres are completed; 75 percent of the damaged acres (60 of the 80 damaged acres) will be repaired and producing, resulting in the company having 130 producing acres in Texas and 110 acres in British Columbia. This will allow for the fulfillment of our growing retailer demand as well as provide incremental production area for the growing demand of our new exclusive varieties. We have completed a number of challenges over the past year and remain motivated and steadfast to continue our growth ahead.”