Florida tomato growers experience difficult year, acreage expected to be similar

Unfavorable weather made for a difficult 2015-16 growing season for Florida tomato growers while growers this season face new challenges.

On Sept. 7, Reggie Brown, manager of the Maitland-based Florida Tomato Committee and executive vice president of the Florida Tomato Exchange, gave his annual state of the tomato industry address during the Florida Tomato Institute educational sessions.

The sessions were part of the Florida tomato conference.

As growers experienced some of the wildest weather they have ever endured, last year's crop was one of the most difficult for growers, Brown said.

The state normally grows tomatoes in the dry season but last year, Florida's tomato fields experienced the wettest dry season in many areas, he said.

During the 2015-16 season, which ended in June, tomato growers packed 28.2 million 25-pound equivalent cartons of mature greens and vine-ripe tomatoes, down from 36.5 million last season, according to Florida Tomato Exchange statistics Brown cited.

Torrential spring rains reduced yields that caused the 8 million carton shortage, which helped lower the crop's production value to $318 million, smaller than $386 million the previous season, Brown said.

However, at $11.21, growers experienced a relatively high average per-box price, which was higher than $10.58 in 2014-15 and $9.76 in 2013-14.

"The reality is with the shortage of the crop, it doesn't really matter what the average value is," Brown said. "If you don't have product to sell, you don't have revenue stream and don't have income for that acre of product."

Last year, Mexican imports increased 18% from the prior year from October to mid-June, which lowered Florida's U.S. market share from 44% in 2014-15 to 39% this past season.

Still, Brown expressed some optimism for the industry's future.

"You (in this room) are in fact the foundation of our tomato industry in the state," he said. "In reality, you are the foundation and the last barrier to keeping the American tomato industry in business. Without the support of this industry and without the volume of this industry, the domestic supply of tomatoes in the U.S. would diminish significantly."

Fall plantings for this season are expected to be similar to last season, according to grower-shippers and extension officials.

After the spring discovery of a strain of pesticide-resistant whiteflies in south Florida, Brown urged growers to carefully monitor their whitefly situation.

During the late 1980s, the pest almost devastated the state's tomato crop, he said.

On Food Safety Modernization Act implementation and regulatory requirements planned to become law in 2018, Brown said Florida's tomato industry is 99.9% in compliance.

"We are committed help you to close that 1% gap to get you through that process," he said. "I am absolutely confident you are capable of doing it. Those will be the challenges we will need to meet."