California shipped its first load of mature green tomatoes on Tuesday, June 2, marking the start of the season, according to the U.S. Market News Service.

Several more loads were shipped during the June 1-5 week, which puts the crop about a week ahead of schedule. If all goes as expected, California will have mature greens through about mid-November. The mature green is a great foodservice tomato and also used by repackers across the country.

Joe Bernardi, president of Bernardi & Associates Inc., operates a summer office out of Turlock, CA, in the San Joaquin Valley, to work the deal. Because of California’s well-publicized drought, Bernardi said the acreage is down about 10 percent this year.

While the California season gets under way, there are also tomatoes from several other locations including crossing from Mexico into California, Arizona and Texas. The Market News Service reported on Friday, June 5, that tomato demand was moderate with a steady market. The market has been off for months so any strengthening is a welcome sight for grower-shippers. Many varieties of vine-ripened tomatoes, including grape and plum tomatoes, were selling in single digits, according to Market News. The one exception was Roma tomatoes, which had a market in the $11-$13 range depending upon size.

Baja California was currently providing vine-ripe and some of the other specialty varieties with supplies considered to be good.

One negative comment about this spring and summer’s grape tomato crop came from Stuart Gilfenbain of Eclipse Berry Farms LLC in Oxnard, CA. Gilfenbain’s firm was one of the pioneers in grape tomatoes more than a decade ago and has specialized in the crop ever since. In fact, for many years, Gilfenbain said his company was the largest grape tomato grower in the United States, supplying the commodity from June through December from its Ventura County acreage. It specialized in that variety exclusively. But no more. “We have no grape tomatoes this year and you can blame Mexican production,” he told The Produce News in late May.

He explained that the low cost of production in Mexico led to increased supplies and an oversupply situation. The market price has been depressed the last couple of years and so Eclipse decided not to plant grape tomatoes this year. Gilfenbain said some of the acreage was planted with strawberries. He indicated no plans to return to the grape tomato deal next year.

Many commercial tomato growers are eyeing the homegrown deals to see how they have survived Mother Nature this spring. There was a lot of rain in the Midwest down through Texas and there was an extended cold streak through much of the country during what would normally be prime tomato planting season. The homegrown deal is impossible to quantify as it encompasses so many states, districts and small growers, even of the backyard variety. Tomatoes are a favorite of everyone and even a few plants in the backyard – multiplied by the millions of people who do that – cut down on demand during the summer months. This spring inclement weather in various locales may greatly decrease supplies and lead to a good market for the commercial growers.

Bernardi noted in late May that he hasn’t heard anything about the smaller deals, which leads him to believe a shortage may be in the making. Bernardi has offices all over the United States and stands ready to fill the needs of his customers if a demand exceeds supply situation unfolds later this summer.

Homegrown deals follow the sun and the rising temperatures. As it heats up, harvests begin. Look for product from the South first and then moving northward as the summer moves on. August typically represents the peak of that volume.