Why can't I get tomatoes now in FLORIDA?

[HockeyMom]

I live in Naples. Went to 3 farm stands which are now closed, or have gone out of business. I went to 2 supermarkets. I looked at the stickers. Product of MEXICO. At another supermarket they said, Product of CANADA. What is wrong with this picture?

As a native New Yorker of over half a century, I know there are farm stands all over in New York with LOCALLY grown tomatoes this time of the year. Hello SUPERMARKETS? WHY do you have to import tomatoes to FLORIDA from Foreign Countries? If you cannot GROWN them locally in Florida, import them from other STATES in the USA where it is peak season for them.

Then you say giving tax cuts to the RICH will create jobs? We are buying goods from OTHER COUNTRIES when it is NOT NECESSARY.

I think I will ask my daughter to bring me down some tomatoes from New York when she comes here in two weeks. How PITIFUL is that?

[babylonsister]

1. Same problem in GA-very scarce here. nt

[Gin]

3. same issue herein Va Beach...Farm fresh sells produce from

Mexico and Canada...no locally grown stuff..

[nadine_mn]

6. well GA lost its workforce so produce is going to be scarce nt

[Synicus Maximus]

14. I went to 3 farmers markets this weekend, Brookhaven, Old five Points and

Oak Hill and they all had Tomatoes. A guy I know who owns an organic farms said the major crop is still a week or two out.

[Phentex]

26. I got a huge bag there for two bucks, cantaloupes for a dollar!...

I love those little stands!

I haven't tried their peaches because the ones at Publix are like candy right now.

My sister's garden tomatoes have thrived. I just made sauce out of about 10 of them.

[RebelOne]

36. I have not seen any scarcity of tomatoes here in North Georgia.

There are plenty in the supermarkets.

[Lindsay]

2. Still have some little roadside stands and tailgate markets

here in SW NC with local produce, but the grocery store products just get silly. California strawberries when local ones are in season, f'rinstance. Hate that, won't buy 'em.

But the best thing for tomatoes in particular, IMO, is grow yer own. They are so easy to grow, even in pots if necessary. Just gotta keep 'em watered.

[DevonRex]

4. Well, do a search for all the chemicals used on Florida tomatoes.

I read it in a newspaper in the Tampa area in mid June. You won't want to eat those tomatoes anyway.

[Ikonoklast]

5. NAFTA could be one reason.

You are seeing one possible result of that fiasco; cheaper imports will drive out domestic producers.

If I am a produce buyer and can purchase tomatoes for the processor or grocery chain from a Mexican produce wholesaler cheaper than I can from locally-grown ones, I will buy them from Mexico.


But there are other issues that come into play here.

You have to take into account, what type of season did they have for tomatoes; did they get a better price selling them all to a processor or out-of-state buyer, did local grocery chains find themselves out-bid by competition elsewhere for the product..there are lots of variables in play here.

[divvy]

7. God is mad at tomato's. That is why they are suffering.

[enlightenment]

8. I listened to an absolutely fascinating discussion about

tomato agriculture in Florida not long ago - on NPR. The upshot was that the vast majority of 'table' tomatoes are grown there, with California growing most of the tomatoes used for canning/sauce/etc.

The man speaking went into a lot of detail about how screwed up the system of tomato agriculture in Florida is right now - I wish I could recall the details. I'll see if I can locate the show and transcript for you.

On edit: here it is: Author Barry Estabrook talking about his book, "Tomatoland"

http://www.npr.org/2011/06/28/137371975/how-industrial-farming-destroyed-the-tasty-tomato

It may not answer your question, but it is very enlightening in the discussion of Florida tomatoes!

[soryang]

15. that was a good program

thanks for the link! I heard it live and wanted someone else to hear it. We grow tomatoes with varying degrees of success in our yard.

[July16th-20th]

9. We need to pay attention.

Why cab't you get locally-grown tomatoes? I'm very serious. I'm nowhere near Florida, so I'm asking for your honest opinion.

[DCKit]

10. Bizarre... My sister brought me tomatoes from her garden in TN last month.

We'd barely have them coming in yet, and she's had 'em for two months already. The S.O. has some wild tomatoes almost ready to turn red, and I didn't plant any this year, until last weekend. By August, we're going to be swimming in tomatoes.

Guess we're on our own folks. I smell an opportunity.

[Lochloosa]

11. Tomatoes do not grow well in the heat. Once the temp is over 90 the blossoms will not set.

Tomatoes are grown in the winter in southern FL and in the fall and spring in N. FL.

[HockeyMom]

18. So import them then from the Northern USA states,

rather than Mexico or Canada. Even California is cooler than South Florida this time of the year.

[TheMightyFavog]

45. Tomato crop s from Wisconsin willbe LATE this year.

We had a really cold start to the summer. Hell Mid-late May felt more like Mid March-Early April this year. A lot of people didn't get their gardens in until early June.

[tsuki]

21. My solar fire are doing great. They love the heat. nt

[Retrograde]

40. Thanks for the farming info

I remember reading something about home gardeners in Florida planting tomatoes for late fall/early winter harvest.

Plants grow differently in different parts of the country, something a lot of gardening books and articles fail to appreciate. This variation in growing seasons is one reason why we see more fresh vegetables in stores year round than we did 40 years ago. Most produce is better the closer to the source you get it, but forcing things to grow out of season, such as tomatoes in Florida summers doesn't improve them.

As to importing them from California rather than Mexico - Mexico is closer to Florida than California, so you're not gaining much (and I've seen the truckloads of tomatoes coming from the fields along 101: they're no great deal). Wait for the local ones and then gloat to the rest of us that you've got fresh, vine-ripened tomatoes in December!

Mine have at least a month to go - they're just starting to get blossoms.

[seeviewonder]

12. We had a farmer's market this past weekend in central Illinois

and there were many tomatoes there. Not to mention all the tomatoes available at roadside stands in the area. I'm glad someone can grow them here because my thumb is far from green and I somehow managed to kill all the plants I started growing this year.

Anyway, I hope that tomatoes become more available for you all down in the South soon.

[Historic NY]

13. The migrant work force went back home or is refused work....here...

news is no new American jobs were created to pick the crops either. :sarcasm: If you can't pick it, it rots and never makes the market shelves.

http://nysiaf.org/2011/05/26/farm-labor-shortage-hits-georgia-after-anti-immigrant-law-passed/

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2011/06/15/immigration-issue-creates-farm-job-shortfall/

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=14028568 Alabama follows Georgia

Look for rising vegetable costs brought to you By the ignorant people.

[DeSwiss]

43. There ya go. n/t

[WinkyDink]

16. Lancaster County, PA, is where the best tomatoes are right now. My garden about 40 miles away? About

one, maybe two.

[HockeyMom]

17. If they are abundant now in the rest of the USA,

then why doesn't Florida import them from the NORTHERN USA instead of Mexico or Canada? Hello? USA, USA, USA. I would rather buy them from New York, Wisconsin, or California, if I cannot get them locally in Florida, rather than MEXICO.

Yeah, PROFITS, but I would think that the shipping costs from CANADA have to be more expensive than from New York or Canada?

There is a Farmers Market this Saturday here in Golden Gate in Naples. If a Mexican family is growing tomatoes in their back yard au naturale, I will pay THEM for tomatoes rather than buying from Mexico or Canada.

[JVS]

20. There isn't really a good transport coridor between Florida and those areas.

To get things from the North to Florida, you either have to send it all the way down the East Coast or you have to send it to New Orleans and then West. There's no direct route over the mountains from IL to GA and then Florida. Since tomatoes don't ship that well, they prefer to sell them as close as possible. This means that by the time they've gone down the east coast, they're absorbed by the cities. Things function similarly along the Mississippi river.

[A HERETIC I AM]

25. You have GOT to be joking!

"There's no direct route over the mountains from IL to GA and then Florida."

lol...have you never heard of the Interstate system?

How long do you think it takes for a tractor trailer to get from Il to Fl?

[JVS]

38. The interstate follows the mountains' contours down to GA and then crosses.

By rail, you have to go along one of the coastal approaches to FL. Anything on the north end of I-75 has closer markets than FL in Chicago or upstate NY. Getting that all to FL is a long drive when there are closer places to sell the goods.

[A HERETIC I AM]

42. Ummmm...ok...

Look, I've driven on just about every mile of interstate in this country save about 1000 of them and what you seem to be concerned about is no concern at all, trust me.

Not only are goods sold close to where they are made or grown, they are sold where there are buyers.

I don't have the stats in front of me, but the vast majority of fresh produce is moved by truck in this country, NOT by rail. Time sensitive items are moved by truck because it is much, much faster than shipping by rail. If you tried to move a load of strawberries, for instance, from California to New York city, a tractor trailer beats the railroads by about 4 days. Not to mention that no railroad that serves the west coast also serves the east coast, so any such cross country freight has to be moved by a second or even a third railroad company. That is often the case between north and southbound freight as well. No such bottlenecks happen with truck freight.

[Fuddnik]

30. I-75 runs from Michigan, all the way down the Gulf Coast.

And I can get from Cleveland to Tampa via I-71 to Cincy and I-75 in about 16.5 hours.

[A HERETIC I AM]

31. Who do you drive for?

Cheers, if you're another member of the DU Truckers!

I'm a car hauler. Just got back to FL from a 15 day trip to the Bay area and back, via Georgia (5 off and one on in GA). Still have two on board to deliver tomorrow.

[jeff47]

23. Most of shipping costs are getting it shipped to begin with

Once you've loaded it onto trucks/rail cars, the marginal cost of taking them a little further is pretty low.

[A HERETIC I AM]

19. Because it is past peak growing season down here.

Most of the commercial tomato production happens about 60 miles East of you, in and around Immokalee. Their prime season is winter and late summer/autumn. Not too much right now in the heat.

[HockeyMom]

27. I live about 10 miles from Immokalee

Even in the winter, my tomatoes are from Mexico.

[A HERETIC I AM]

32. I'll tell ya what, I live in Englewood, and there is a Produce wholesaler 3 blocks away....

who has a retail stand. I can get you locally grown tomatoes if you want in Charlotte county.

Thing is, I'm gone on the road a lot so you'll have to stock up!

(You said you lived in Naples, that's why I said Immokalee was 60 miles away)

[mysuzuki2]

22. grow your own

[Dappleganger]

24. Why aren't you growing your own?

If you come up here to NE FL I'll load you up with about 20 or so that we have extra this week.

[Fuddnik]

28. Out of season.

I picked the last of mine about a month ago before the heat killed them.

However the peppers are thriving.

[HockeyMom]

29. Again, If it is not SEASON in SW Florida,

why can't they be shipped from other states in the USA instead of Foreign Countries?????? THAT is my question. If they can ship produce NORTH in the winter, and they DO, why is it so difficult to so in the summer?

[The Straight Story]

33. it costs maybe .02 cents to transport a tomato:

http://www.vias.org/physics/example_1_3_04.html

[u4ic]

34. Same problem IN Canada

One grocery chain here at least tries to sell locally grown (or from the next province) as much as possible, but so much of the produce I see is coming from the US. In the winter, that makes sense, but in the summer?

Of course, buying locally grown (here, with exception of said grocery store) can also set you back a pretty penny. Our system is massively_fucked_up.

[Fla Dem]

35. Here's the dirty little secret about Florida tomatoes....

Florida tomatoes in supermarkets nationwide are a sad distant relative from home grown, or a local small farmer's produce.

Book excerpt: Something is rotten in Florida


"Although tomatoes are farmed commercially in about 20 states, Florida alone accounts for one-third of the fresh tomatoes raised in the United States, and from October to June, virtually all the fresh-market, field-grown tomatoes in the country come from the Sunshine State, which ships more than 1 billion pounds to the United States, Canada, and other countries every year.

It takes a tough tomato to stand up to the indignity of such industrial scale farming, so most Florida tomatoes are bred for hardness, picked when still firm and green (the merest trace of pink is taboo), and artificially gassed with ethylene in warehouses until they acquire the rosy red skin tones of a ripe tomato."

<snip>

"If it were left up to the laws of botany and nature, Florida would be one of the last places in the world where tomatoes grow. Tomato production in the state has everything to do with marketing and nothing to do with biology. Florida is warm when the rest of the East and Midwest – within easy striking distance for a laden produce truck – is cold."

More..........

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/06/26/3723673/something-is-rotten-in-florida.html

[FLPanhandle]

37. Northwest Florida has plenty

Lots of farmer stands around here. Of course we are usually cooler than south Florida.

[RC]

39. Everyone is forgetting that Florida is a corrupt Red state.

Private enterprise is for the profit of the Well-To-Do.

[HockeyMom]

41. Too Hot in South Florida, but not too hot in MEXICO?

Excuse me?

[FLPanhandle]

44. Depends where in Mexico

The higher elevations can be much cooler than Florida.