Brown laments plunge in value of Florida tomatoes at annual FTC meeting
Brown laments plunge in value of Florida tomatoes at annual FTC meeting
NAPLES, FL -- The Florida tomato industry has seen the value of its crop drop nearly $260 million over the past three seasons.
The grim statistic was given by Reggie Brown, executive director of the Florida Tomato Committee, during his state of the industry speech Sept. 5 at the Florida Tomato Institute, part of the 32nd Joint Tomato Conference, held here Sept. 5-8.
"Going back to 2004-05, this industry sold round tomatoes under a federal marketing order here in the state for a value of some $663 million," Mr. Brown told attendees at the event, held here at the Ritz-Carlton. "The year after that, with another hurricane season, we sold tomatoes for a value $492 million. Last season, with no hurricanes, we sold tomatoes for $404 million. Now, needless to say, that drop of over $200 million in value is damn painful."
Mr. Brown said that the industry sold tomatoes at a "maximum weekly high value of $16.05 and a minimum value of $3.89. We had six weeks of prices less than $5 a box on average and eight weeks of tomatoes with a value of over $10 a box. It's not a season we wish to experience again, and hopefully, moving forward with the eternal optimism of this industry, we'll look forward to a better season this year with better profitability. There is no solution in volume, what we need is a stronger price base and greater returns to the farm."
He noted that with energy and production costs going up, "the margin between success and failure is much narrower than it was 10 years ago and it is going to be critical as we move forward that we have a much more profitable 2007-08 season."
Although sales have shrunk, Mr. Brown said that over the past year, the Florida tomato industry "moved forward and tried to be proactive and constructive in dealing with food safety," and he proudly noted that "it's a tribute to the progressive nature of this business and to those of you in this audience who are willing to move forward and address this issue and work diligently to move this industry to producing the safest product we can. The public trust between you as a producer and the American consumer being able to eat tomatoes without fear is absolutely essential to this enterprise being vital going forward."
Several guest speakers followed Mr. Brown and gave informative presentations on such topics as fumigant assessment, preventing a rapid post-harvest breakdown of fruit and food safety.
Mike Aerts of the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association compared the Florida tomato industry's need for the fumigant methyl bromide, which is has been declared an ozone depleter, to the movie "The Perfect Storm."
"After 2007, the United States is going to be the only country that says it needs bromide to produce its crop," Mr. Aerts said. "The pressure that is going to be put on this country, especially the tomato industry, is going to be extraordinary to transition away from dependency on bromide to dependency on existing alternatives."
Jerry Bartz, who gave a presentation on the post-harvest decay of tomatoes, found that wet fruit with poor drying conditions were the most likely causes. Dr. Bartz and other researchers at the Plant Pathology Department at the University of Florida's Institute of Food & Agricultural Science are currently examining several chemicals to prevent the condition along with testing forced-air cooling or pressure ripening for removing field and excess moisture.
As part of her food-safety update, Martha Roberts of the University of Florida's Institute of Food & Agricultural Science told attendees that while the industry will soon be implementing many strategies, including tomato- specific good agricultural practices for field and greenhouse operations and best management practices for packinghouse operations, there is still work to be done.
She said that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration's Florida Tomato Initiative was scheduled to begin in December, and the agency would be inspecting operations in Florida throughout the growing year.
Dr. Roberts also noted that while there were no major outbreaks of illness involving tomatoes so far this year, of the 71 outbreaks involving produce in the last 10 years, 12 have been associated with tomatoes.
"There are too many illnesses associated with produce, and a large percentage is due to fresh-cut [product]," she said.
While she commended the industry for the actions it has undertaken, Dr. Roberts said that because investigators don't know how or where contamination occurs, along with more research, "growers must think salmonella," especially if they see reptiles or amphibians in the field. They don't reuse boxes and must test the microbial quality of their water supplies, follow GAPs and GMPs, and keep better records.
The grim statistic was given by Reggie Brown, executive director of the Florida Tomato Committee, during his state of the industry speech Sept. 5 at the Florida Tomato Institute, part of the 32nd Joint Tomato Conference, held here Sept. 5-8.
"Going back to 2004-05, this industry sold round tomatoes under a federal marketing order here in the state for a value of some $663 million," Mr. Brown told attendees at the event, held here at the Ritz-Carlton. "The year after that, with another hurricane season, we sold tomatoes for a value $492 million. Last season, with no hurricanes, we sold tomatoes for $404 million. Now, needless to say, that drop of over $200 million in value is damn painful."
Mr. Brown said that the industry sold tomatoes at a "maximum weekly high value of $16.05 and a minimum value of $3.89. We had six weeks of prices less than $5 a box on average and eight weeks of tomatoes with a value of over $10 a box. It's not a season we wish to experience again, and hopefully, moving forward with the eternal optimism of this industry, we'll look forward to a better season this year with better profitability. There is no solution in volume, what we need is a stronger price base and greater returns to the farm."
He noted that with energy and production costs going up, "the margin between success and failure is much narrower than it was 10 years ago and it is going to be critical as we move forward that we have a much more profitable 2007-08 season."
Although sales have shrunk, Mr. Brown said that over the past year, the Florida tomato industry "moved forward and tried to be proactive and constructive in dealing with food safety," and he proudly noted that "it's a tribute to the progressive nature of this business and to those of you in this audience who are willing to move forward and address this issue and work diligently to move this industry to producing the safest product we can. The public trust between you as a producer and the American consumer being able to eat tomatoes without fear is absolutely essential to this enterprise being vital going forward."
Several guest speakers followed Mr. Brown and gave informative presentations on such topics as fumigant assessment, preventing a rapid post-harvest breakdown of fruit and food safety.
Mike Aerts of the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association compared the Florida tomato industry's need for the fumigant methyl bromide, which is has been declared an ozone depleter, to the movie "The Perfect Storm."
"After 2007, the United States is going to be the only country that says it needs bromide to produce its crop," Mr. Aerts said. "The pressure that is going to be put on this country, especially the tomato industry, is going to be extraordinary to transition away from dependency on bromide to dependency on existing alternatives."
Jerry Bartz, who gave a presentation on the post-harvest decay of tomatoes, found that wet fruit with poor drying conditions were the most likely causes. Dr. Bartz and other researchers at the Plant Pathology Department at the University of Florida's Institute of Food & Agricultural Science are currently examining several chemicals to prevent the condition along with testing forced-air cooling or pressure ripening for removing field and excess moisture.
As part of her food-safety update, Martha Roberts of the University of Florida's Institute of Food & Agricultural Science told attendees that while the industry will soon be implementing many strategies, including tomato- specific good agricultural practices for field and greenhouse operations and best management practices for packinghouse operations, there is still work to be done.
She said that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration's Florida Tomato Initiative was scheduled to begin in December, and the agency would be inspecting operations in Florida throughout the growing year.
Dr. Roberts also noted that while there were no major outbreaks of illness involving tomatoes so far this year, of the 71 outbreaks involving produce in the last 10 years, 12 have been associated with tomatoes.
"There are too many illnesses associated with produce, and a large percentage is due to fresh-cut [product]," she said.
While she commended the industry for the actions it has undertaken, Dr. Roberts said that because investigators don't know how or where contamination occurs, along with more research, "growers must think salmonella," especially if they see reptiles or amphibians in the field. They don't reuse boxes and must test the microbial quality of their water supplies, follow GAPs and GMPs, and keep better records.
