Anonymous
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Pest outbreak ruins up to 40 percent of tomato production in Baja.
http://www.thekcrachannel.com/money/3862029/detail.html
Tomato Shortage Pushes Up Prices
Grocery Store Prices Up To $3 A Pound
October 27, 2004
LOS ANGELES -- A nationwide tomato shortage brought on by Florida's rash of hurricanes and a nagging pest in Mexico is being made worse by a bruised
and rotting harvest in California.
Two to three inches of rain have brought picking to a standstill for more than a week, dropping production by nearly 40 percent for the normally busy
October. The month is a crossover one for the nation's top two tomato producers, with California dominating the market June through October and
Florida vice versa.
Florida's hurricane season delayed planting, essentially ensuring a shortage. The situation was exacerbated when Mexico, another major source of
tomatoes, was hit with a pest outbreak that ruined up to 40 percent of production in the Baja region.
In California, moisture along with lower temperatures wiped out about 1,500 acres in the central and southern parts of the state, said Ed Beckman of
the California Tomato Commission. About 33,000 acres were harvested last year.
"That's a huge investment that growers are never going to get back," said Beckman, who leads the commission overseeing the state's $375 million tomato
industry.
For consumers, the news isn't good either. At the supermarket, prices are nearly double - up to $3 a pound - for conventionally grown hothouse and
Romas, and it could take more than a month for a drop until the harvest picks up in wind- and water-damaged Florida.
The retail prices, though, reflect sky-high wholesale prices for those farmers lucky enough to still have a crop.
At the Giumarra farm in northern San Diego County, for example, a 20-pound box of vine ripe tomatoes has been going for $26. That's four times more
than last year's average price of $6.
"The rain up to now hasn't been bad for us because we're enjoying the better prices," said sales manager Jim Ukegawa.
The high prices drove workers at one rain-soaked farm out into muddy fields to salvage produce.
All the precipitation "made some tomatoes rot or become too soft, but it's still worthwhile to go for them" because of the high prices, said David
Cook, sales manager for Deardorff-Jackson farm in Oxnard.
"It's not often that prices are above the cost of production, so when this comes along, you have to take advantage of it," he said.
Beckman, however, warned of price gouging by middlemen. He said he's heard of distributors demanding $40 for a box of Roma tomatoes that would
otherwise sell for $20.
"It's unfortunate, and the real shortage is still two or three weeks away," he said. "It's getting tight but I think the worst is yet to come."
The shortage has forced one fast-food chain to change its national advertising campaign.
Ohio-based Wendy's had planned to promote a line of chicken sandwiches topped with a tomato slice but will now advertise other products instead.
"We didn't want to highlight a great-looking chicken sandwich with a tomato on it if we couldn't deliver," said Bob Bertini, a spokesman for the
company.
Burger King and Subway plan to inform customers with signs in restaurants if they run short of tomatoes.
Subway, a major user of tomatoes, will not alter prices or menu offerings, said Tina Fitzgerald, a buyer for Independent Purchasing Cooperative, which
buys fresh produce for the sandwich chain.
"We'll say that we're temporarily out in case of a shortage or if the quality of the produce are bad," Fitzgerald said. "Food safety comes first."
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Don Jorge
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An industry look at the problem.
http://www.theproducenews.com/storydetail.cfm?ID=4490
Farming is not for the faint of heart!
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Taco de Baja
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Thanks Don Jorge.
I was wondering what the pest was in the other article.
I hope that does not make it up to Alta California. That could really wreck the local tomato market as well as those of us who are backyard growers.
Do you happen to know of an effective pesticide?
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JESSE
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I wonder how they control these things, pesticides or predator insects?
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Bruce R Leech
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Location: Ensenada formerly Mulege
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Mood: A lot cooler than Mulege
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Pest out brake in baja, is that Leagal?
Bruce R Leech
Ensenada
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Don Jorge
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This answers a few questions about this pest.
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r783303011.html
Tomatoes will always be less expensive in the mercados in Ensenada. The cosmetically blemished stay at home!
The people of Mexico have always known not to judge a fruit by its cover.
�And it never failed that during the dry years the people forgot about the rich years, and during the wet years they lost all memory of the dry
years. It was always that way.�― John Steinbeck
"All models are wrong, but some are useful." George E.P. Box
"Nature bats last." Doug "Hayduke" Peac-ck
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Taco de Baja
Super Nomad
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Location: Behind the Orange Curtain, CA
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Oh Cr@p
I saw a few of those little buggers on my plants THIS year!  
They are very stealthy and try to hide on the opposite site of the leaf/branch from you. They move very quickly and are hard to squish.
Still got a good crop, but I did not see too many of them. The racoons/skunks/opossums and horn worms probably hurt me more than these guys did,
this year anyway.....
[Edited on 10-29-2004 by Taco de Baja]
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