Dying on the Vine: Tomato Prices

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Dying on the Vine: Tomato Prices
Tomatoes Go From Shortage to Glut in a Matter of Weeks


Jeff Dolan's tomatoes in San Joaquin Valley are ripening and ready to pick this week. But that puts him in a pickle.

In California, harvest time is arriving just as tomato growers in other parts of the U.S. are reeling from a sudden supply glut that is pushing the price for fresh tomatoes sharply lower. Florida farmers who fetched more than $30 a few months ago for a 25-pound box of round, fresh field-grown tomatoes, also known as slicer tomatoes, are now getting $5 or less.

The abundant crop is rooted in last winter's cold weather in Florida, which delayed the development of tomato plants. The overdue harvest hit the market in May just as DiMare Co., where Mr. Dolan oversees California field operations, was picking tomatoes near Palm Springs.

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Ariel Zambelich for The Wall Street Journal

Jeff Dolan, field operations manager for DiMare Co. in California, looks for maturing Roma tomatoes on a recent day. Of the quick turn in the market, Mr. Dolan says 'the train wreck was apparent for quite a while.'
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"Prices dropped like a rock" after the harvest began, he says. As a result, at least 40% of the revenue that DiMare hoped to get from that part of California could vanish.

Now the impact is rippling across the country as the growing season moved to other regions, including Mr. Dolan's tomatoes in the San Joaquin Valley.

The tomato surplus also means that food banks are getting a mountain of the fruit, often cooked as a vegetable. Fast-food chains are reversing tomato-by-request rationing policies imposed during the shortage earlier this year. And supermarkets are pushing piles of discounted tomatoes at salad, spaghetti and gazpacho lovers.

Publix Super Markets Inc., a Lakeland, Fla., chain with 1,018 stores in five states, cut its price on fresh tomatoes to 99 cents a pound—a discount of 50 cents—through the end of Wednesday.

Del Mar Farms, of Westley, Calif., has agreed to donate 150,000 pounds of Roma tomatoes for a Reno, Nev., version of Spain's La Tomatina festival, where revelers have a massive tomato fight. "When there's an oversupply, it's a lot easier to donate," says Brian Wright, the farm's director of sales and marketing.

"I guess we caught a little bit of lucky break with the U.S. surplus of tomatoes," says Jeff Siri, organizer of the Aug. 29 event, expected to attract as many as 10,000 tomato tossers at $10 a person. All proceeds will go to the American Cancer Society.
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The U.S. Agriculture Department estimates that wholesale tomato prices fell to 25 cents a pound in June, down 78% since March. The current price is "the lowest number that I can remember seeing," says Gary Lucier, an agricultural economist and tomato expert at the USDA.

Worried about the impact of the plunge on farmers, the USDA is buying $6 million of tomatoes and distributing them to food banks. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the purchase is designed to give Florida farmers "some relief."

The fresh-tomato market is different from the packaged-tomato business, where H.J. Heinz Co. and other large companies use long-term contracts to buy at a fixed price through established relationships with growers, says Eric Katzman, an analyst at Deutsche Bank.

Still, fresh tomatoes sold to restaurants and supermarkets are an important part of the overall market. The crop is highly perishable and generally needs to be sold less than two weeks after harvest.

January's freeze in Florida destroyed about two-thirds of the tomato crop in one major growing region, according to the USDA, citing industry estimates. As supplies withered, prices spiked, and some of the increase was passed on to consumers. In the first quarter, U.S. average retail tomato prices rose 24% to $2 a pound.

Florida farmers had difficulty taking advantage of the jump because cooler weather persisted after the freeze. Tomatoes planted after the thaw were slow to develop, so supplies remained scarce, prices stayed high and sales suffered.

Some fast-food restaurants told customers they had to ask for a tomato slice on burgers and other sandwiches. "The price wasn't the issue," says Denny Lynch, a spokesman for Wendy's International Inc., which operates about 6,000 restaurants in the U.S. "You couldn't get them," and those that were available often were poor in quality. The company recently abandoned the policy.

In May, the shortage turned into a glut as delayed tomato plants reached maturity and others ripened on schedule. "Basically, eight to nine weeks of plantings came on [to the market] in a four-week period," says Bob Spencer, co-owner of West Coast Tomato in Palmetto, Fla., which farms 4,000 acres around the state.

Tomato prices fell from $32 for a 25-pound box in late March to $22 by late April-and to $8 by mid-May, according to Agriculture Department data.

"We've probably lost $10 million this winter," says Batista Madonia Sr., chief executive of East Coast Growers & Packers in Mulberry, Fla., which farms about 3,000 acres. "We've had a rough year. We'll survive."

The losses are rippling through Florida's economy. "You just cut back on capital expenditures, and you really watch how many employees you have," Mr. Spencer says.

California growers could see the glut coming, but there was little they could do. Tomatoes need to be planted several weeks ahead of time, and harvested when they are ready. "The train wreck was apparent for quite a while," DiMare's Mr. Dolan says.

It isn't clear how much financial damage California growers will have to endure. Because Florida is wrapping up its harvest, the oversupply mightn't last for long, especially if consumers respond to low prices by eating more tomatoes.

The Florida Tomato Committee, a Maitland, Fla., group that promotes tomatoes grown in the state, is trying to "inspire people to cook with Florida's tomatoes," says Samantha Winters, director of education and promotion. This year's tomato-recipe contest winners were "tomato tartare" and "tomato sorbet," though the results haven't been announced yet.

"We just want people to get creative with it," she says.

Brooklyn Produce Exchange A Win-Win, Residents Say

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Brooklyn Produce Exchange A Win-Win, Residents Say

The produce was picked fresh in the morning at an upstate farm and delivered to the Hebron Church in Crown Heights. It's the first truckload to the area, part of a program to help bring healthy food to low and middle income neighborhoods.

"Our borough has more food pantries and soup kitchens than any other borough. And especially in this congressional district they have the largest number of people who are food-challenged," said Deputy Brooklyn Borough President Yvonne Graham.

The program, called the Farm Fresh Project, is organized by the New York City Coalition Against Hunger. The way it works is residents pay in advance for the food with the price depending on their income. For many, the fruits and vegetables are subsidized through grant money or food stamps, and then residents pick up their share weekly. It's a 22 week program and organizers say it's been a success in three other neighborhoods including nearby Flatbush.

"Ninety percent of the people in the Flatbush projects said they increased their produce consumption. But even more amazing, we asked them if they increased their produce consumption throughout the year following the project when they stopped getting the direct distributions. Eighty percent said that because this program made them more aware of the need for more fresh produce in their diets they improved their diets throughout the year," said Joel Berg of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger.

Hebron Church pastor Roberne Saint-Louis says many of his parishioners have signed up. He says they're mostly Haitian and are used to food from the land.

"They used to pick up the fruits, send rocks to get the mango directly from the trees and plant their own vegetables," Saint-Louis said.

The pastor also says there's a great need in the neighborhood. The church already has a food pantry on Wednesdays and a soup kitchen on Sundays.

"On Sunday we come early in the morning. Like five o'clock or six o'clock in the morning we start cooking for them and 12 we give them food. You see them, hundreds come in," said volunteer Jacqueline Pharuns.

Not only do the residents benefit from the Farm Fresh Project, but so do the suppliers. One farmer who spoke with NY1 says he benefits because he receives money in advance, which allows him to keep his farm operating efficiently all season.

Healthy Diet May Cut Colorectal Cancer Risk

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Healthy Diet May Cut Colorectal Cancer Risk
Diet Rich in Fruits, Vegetables, Low-Fat Dairy, and Fish Linked With Less Colorectal Cancer
By Kathleen Doheny
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD

June 16, 2010 -- Eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy foods, and fish may reduce your risk of colorectal cancer, according to a new study.

Although previous studies have produced conflicting findings about the effectiveness of such a diet, the new research found a benefit.

''We found that eating a largely plant-based diet with higher intakes of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, vegetable oils, and low-fat dairy in women and fish in men was associated with a reduced risk of colorectal cancer," says Paige Miller, PhD, a researcher at Pennsylvania State University.

Eating in this healthful way reduced the risk of colon cancer by 65% in women and by 62% in men, she says. ''Why fish was a part of the protective dietary pattern only in men and low-fat diary only in women is not known at this time," Miller tells WebMD.

The study is published in the Journal of Nutrition.

About 147,000 new cases of colorectal cancer were diagnosed in 2009 in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society.
Diet and Colorectal Cancer: The Study

Miller and her team evaluated the diets of 431 men and women with colorectal cancer and the diets of 726 healthy men and women who didn't have colon cancer.

They categorized the participants into a fruits-and-vegetables diet pattern and a meat-potatoes-refined grains pattern. In men, a third pattern -- a diet rich in alcohol and sweetened beverages -- was found.

They also looked at how well participants followed the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the MyPyramid recommendations, which suggest a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

In addition to finding the reduced risk of colorectal cancer for people eating the diet heavy in fruits and vegetables -- 62% reduced risk for men and 65% for women -- Miller found that the more closely men and women adhered to the Dietary Guidelines, the lower the cancer risk.

Men and women with higher adherence to the guidelines had a lower risk of colorectal cancer, reducing it by 44% (men) and 56% (women).

Miller's advice? "Rather than focusing on a single food, nutrient, or other dietary component, focus on eating an overall plant-based diet that emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and vegetable oil," she says.

The diet pattern associated with higher cancer risk in her study included greater intakes of red and processed meat, poultry, fried and white potatoes, high-fat dairy, sweets, salty snacks, butter, mayonnaise, gravy, pizza, and refined grains.
Diet and Colorectal Cancer: Second Opinion

''This is more data that a low-fat, low-meat, high-fiber diet is protective," says Donald David, MD, chief of the division of gastroenterology at the City of Hope Cancer Center, Duarte, Calif., who reviewed the study for WebMD. ''More work needs to be done to find out which particular foods are protective."

"I think the take-home message for now is, adopting a diet [that is] good for us anyway is going to protect us from colon cancer to some extent."

Experts speculate that a diet emphasizing fiber-rich fruits, vegetables, and whole grains moves waste through the colon more quickly, giving harmful substances less time to damage cells there.

David calls the overall up to 65% reduction in colon cancer risk found in the new study "fairly significant protection."

Diet, he says, is just one factor that affects risk for colon cancer, of course. A history of bowel disease such as ulcerative colitis increases the risk of colorectal cancer, as does family history of the disease, according to the American Cancer Society.

Smoking, being very overweight, and excess alcohol use have also been linked to a higher colorectal cancer risk.