The Back Page : Tomato Woe
Here’s what kind of year it’s been: Tomatoes were selling for about the same price on the Fourth of July that they were in January.
Although a 25-pound case of large mature green Florida tomatoes sold at wholesale for around $13 a case the week of January 23, this week the same grade from California is going for as much as $14 a case. And that’s in a falling market.
The culprit? Weather, of course. First, this spring’s rains delayed planting in the tomato belt of the San Joaquin Valley. Then, to make matters worse, temperatures in the late spring and early summer, when the plants begin their real push to production, have been unseasonably cool--in the mid-70s rather than the mid-90s.
So, while Modesto might have been a nicer place for humans the last couple of months, it hasn’t been great for tomatoes. The June harvest of tomatoes last year, for example, was 6 million cases. This year, growers were scrambling to get 3 million.
All that is in the process of changing, though, as the weather warms. Prices are falling rapidly. As recently as last week, that same case of California mature greens was selling for as much as $17.
In fact, don’t be surprised to see tomatoes selling at blow-out prices later in the month, maybe as low as $6 a case.
While the harvest normally begins in early to mid-June, this year most growers didn’t move into full production until the last week of the month.
With this late start, there are going to be a lot of tomatoes coming on the market at the same time.
“There’s going to be a lot of volume coming through a smaller window,” says Tim McCarthy of Merced’s Central California Tomato Growers Co-Op. “Supply and demand means there’s going to be lower prices.”
There are a couple of variables that could affect that. First, bad weather in the East Coast tomato growing area, centered in Virginia, could do away with some competition and keep prices a little higher. And then there’s the chance that too-hot mid-summer temperatures in the Central Valley could damage the blooms that will turn into tomatoes for the October-November harvest, ending the season early.
