Eclipse continues with grape tomatoes
Eclipse continues with grape tomatoes
When the summer rolls around, Eclipse Berry Farms LLC in Oxnard, CA, rolls out its “other” crop with the harvest of its grape tomatoes.
The company is one of the larger domestic producers of grape tomatoes with all of its acreage in the Ventura County area.
“Well, we’re the largest grower in this area,” said Rick Hearst, who along with Stuart Gilfenbain, handles sales of the product.
The two operate out of their Los Angeles area office which is about an hour’s drive south of the fields. “We are certainly looking forward to a better year this year than last year,” said Hearst.
He said there was an oversupply of grape tomatoes in 2012 which led to a sloppy market for most of the season. In a typical season — and he said 2013 looks typical — Eclipse will have production of grape tomatoes from near the end of June into November. While it is a nice niche commodity that has done well in recent years, Hearst said it is still somewhat of a specialty crop and can easily fall victim to oversupply situations as it did last year.
“A lot of the hothouses put grape tomatoes in last year but we think it is going to be a better deal this year,” he said, adding that in May there was a shortage of grape tomatoes nationally. “We saw a spike in the price [f.o.b.] and we heard from a lot of our customers wondering when we going to start.”
That could be a very good sign indicating that there will not be a glut of grape tomatoes on the market when Oxnard gets going.
While the grape tomato market tends to have its own supply-and-demand curve, Hearst said it is influenced by the general tomato markets, especially the Romas. He said if Roma tomatoes are either very long or very short, it will influence the grape tomato market, as consumers can substitute one for the other in many uses.
Hearst said the company will be offering its same two packs this year which includes packed in pint clamshells as well as in bulk carton. The majority of the firm’s business goes to retail chains, but Hearst said there is also some foodservice interest in grape tomatoes. “We do sell some to the restaurant trade but mostly to the [retail] chains.”
Eclipse Berry Farm is also a grower-shipper of strawberries.
