Hurricanes put squeeze on tomato harvest

A US 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% for the normally busy October. The month is a crossover one for the nation’s top two tomato producers, with California dominating the market from June to 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% 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 €293.6m tomato industry.

For consumers, the news isn’t good either. At the supermarket, prices are nearly double 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.