Tomato sales lowest since 2001 for Florida growers

Tomato growers elsewhere in Florida, like those operating in Immokalee, have made little to no profit from their crop in the past decade. Low market prices are forcing growers to find solutions to lowering their high production costs. It's enough to make growers want to throw tomatoes "“ or even throw in the towel. "Prices are horrendous," said Reggie Brown, manager of the Florida Tomato Committee, the Federal Marketing Order authority for tomatoes grown in Florida.

"I know at least one company (Big Red in Fort Pierce) that's closing its doors. This is one of the toughest years we've ever had." This year, the decline in sales was $2.58 per 25-pound box of tomatoes, bringing the average price per unit to its lowest since 2001.

The Florida Tomato Committee's annual conference in Naples this week will highlight some of the research and education that could help tomato growers and distributors stay on their feet. The conference will also cover this year's budget and marketing regulations. More than 400 people from the industry will gather at The Ritz-Carlton on the beach Tuesday through Sunday.

The consensus in the business is this: The past season isn't one they would care to repeat. Growers and sellers have no control over the market price for tomatoes; it is a supply and demand, free-traded business, Brown said.

"The farmer is a price taker, not a price maker," he said. "If the price doesn't cover the farmer's cost, the farmer will no longer farm. This is a serious concern that doesn't bode well for the industry."

Florida is the top producer of tomatoes in the U.S. It's an active business: Total sales in the state were over $400 million last season. About two dozen large companies control 90 percent of the industry in the state, said officials from the Hendry County Cooperative Extension Office of the University of Florida.

Farmers here compete with other top growers in states like California, Virginia and Georgia. But they also compete with Canada and Mexico, where some growers can sell at different times of the year and at lower prices. It comes down to this: There are too many tomatoes.

"The North American tomato market is grossly oversupplied," Brown said. "Throughout the year, farmers in Mexico and Canada continue to squirt out tomatoes and send them somewhere." The cost of labor on Florida tomato farms is steadily increasing. The average farm worker earned $12.46 per hour last year, according to committee reports.

Still, farmers are losing workers to jobs inside cities that pay more, said Gene McAvoy, a vegetable agent at Hendry County Extension. "With the rapid pace of development, they can make more money building houses in Naples or working at a restaurant, hotel or golf course," McAvoy said. Strict border relations with Mexico "“ where many farm workers come from "“ and guest worker legislation are not yet big concerns for farmers.

"We've been pretty successful in attracting labor," Reggie Brown said. But it's still a talking point for the committee because restrictions on immigration could become a problem in a few years, he added. Labor may not be hard to come by, but affordable land is scarce. McAvoy said land in Collier County goes for up to $100,000 per acre. The energy spike and pesticide regulations can also be burdens for tomato growers.

In the past, farmers could use just one chemical to treat their entire crop in a nuclear bomb-like attack. Now that the dangers of this practice are known, safer chemicals that target specific problems "like the larvae of a particular species of insect" are enforced.

Much of the research done on tomato farming practices looks for cost-effective ways to use pesticides. The Southwest Florida Research & Education Center will present research trials at next week's convention on safety, best practices and protecting the crop from damage.

But no matter how they reinvent themselves, farmers can't thrive unless prices go up, Brown said. "If we don't have decent prices in next year or two, tomato farming will decline precipitately in this state," Brown said. If other states reach a similar fate, tomatoes could be yet another relic of America's farming culture.


Source: naplesnews.com

Publication date: 9/3/2007

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