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Weather cools start, evens out production for Baja tomatoes

By Tom Burfield | The Packer
08/19/2011 12:31:22 PM

SAN DIEGO — Tomato shipments from Southern California and Baja California, Mexico, got off to a later start than usual this summer, but volume was building in August, and grower-shippers expect promotable supplies of good-quality tomatoes during September, October and November.

Mark Munger, vice president of marketing for Andrew & Williamson Fresh Produce, San Diego, said in early August that this has been a fantastic season, despite cooler weather than usual.

Cool weather prevents big production spikes.

“It’s been a very steady production season,” he said, with excellent-quality fruit.

Oceanside-based Fresh Pac International started shipping roma tomatoes in May, said Brian Bernauer, sales director. Vine-ripe and grape tomatoes should start in September.

“Roma tomatoes are outstanding,” he said in early August. “Growing conditions have been tremendous for the last few weeks.”

This year’s cool summer was not as cool as last year’s, said David Cook, sales manager for Deardorff Family Farms, Oxnard.

Demand was good for the light harvest that was available in early August, and he said he expected heavy volume by mid-August.

“By Labor Day, we’ll be buried in tomatoes,” Cook said.

At the Carlsbad location of Springfield, Ill.-based Tom Lange Co., salesman Tim Biggar said in early August that the industry was experiencing “kind of a strange deal.”

“They don’t seem to be buying as much,” he said, and he wasn’t sure why or what would change that.

The company handles mostly vine-ripes out of Baja California.

Shipments from Baja California were picking up steam in August from Pinos Produce Inc., said sales manager Danny Uribe.

He expects to have promotable volume by early September, and the company will ship into November or even December.

Pinos ships primarily romas and some cherry, grape and vine-ripe tomatoes.

Quality this season looks really good, he said.

Expo Fresh LLC, San Diego, was shipping roma and cherry tomatoes in early August and will start vine-ripes in mid-September, said Bob Schachtel, sales manager.

Early quality was good, and he said he hoped it would remain that way.

“It all depends on the weather,” he said.

Things were looking good at Be Wise Ranch, Escondido, said owner Bill Brammer.

The company, a certified organic grower, produces a variety of high-quality heirloom tomatoes and other tomatoes, fruits and vegetables.

“We really stress quality and make sure the varieties and color we pick will make it to the destination,” Brammer said. “So far we’ve had pretty good luck.”

The dog days of August are a transitional time of year, as summer winds down and consumers are focused more on buying books, school clothes and lunch pails than they are on filling those lunch pails, Uribe said.

However, a boost in prices is almost automatic after the weather cools in September and homegrown deals wind down, he said.

Andrew & Williamson plans put a strong emphasis this winter on diversifying its growing regions, Munger said.

Last year’s winter freeze was a sobering experience, he said, so the company is growing in several different areas as well as in open fields and in shade houses.

The trend seems to be toward more extreme weather, Munger said, “So we must have systems in place to handle extremes — we can’t afford interruptions for customers.”


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Originally Posted by Noticias

...salesman Tim Biggar said in early August that the industry..."...don’t seem to be buying as much,”...wasn’t sure why...

I've got some idea.

The word around town by those really in the know tell me that the larger growers here are all expanding their operations with plans to increase production by 40-50% before the end of this decade. I suspect that the Rodriguez family will be buying a lot more trucks...

Growers move more tomato acreage into shade houses

Tom Burfield | The Packer
Friday 08/19/2011 12:29:45 PM

SAN DIEGO — Protected agriculture is quickly becoming the standard method of growing tomatoes in Mexico.

“We don’t grow outside,” said Danny Uribe, sales manager for Pinos Produce Inc., which sources its product from Baja California, Mexico.

The company has been shipping shade house-grown roma and vine-ripe tomatoes for 10 years, he says. The firm’s cherry and grape tomatoes are grown in greenhouses.

Pinos started out with a cucumber shade house deal that was so successful that the company developed a five-year program to expand the shade house operation to its tomato deal.

Fresh Pac International, Oceanside, which also sources from Baja California, started growing in shade houses in a small way six years ago, said Brian Bernauer, sales director.

Today, the company grows 75% of its tomatoes indoors.

During the summer, San Diego-based Andrew & Williamson Fresh Produce grows all of its tomatoes, which are grown in San Quintin and Vizcaino, in shade houses, said Mark Munger, vice president of marketing.

In the fall, disease pressure drops in Vizcaino so the company grows some of its roma varieties outside.

“We are not enamored with shade technology for the sake of shade technology,” Munger said. “We want the highest-quality, most consistent product, and shade houses are a tool we use when necessary.”

There are several advantages to growing tomatoes in shade houses.

The quality of the tomatoes is outstanding, Uribe said, and shade houses minimize the fruit’s exposure to the elements.

“There are no issues with aphids, whitefly, heat or lack of heat, he said.

Product grown in shade houses requires less fertilizer and water, and yields increase about 30%, he said.

“We do a better job volumewise and conditionwise,” Uribe said. “Anyone who does anything open field needs to have their head examined.”

Bernauer felt the same way.

“You take out the weather, have less bugs and you need less water indoors,” he said, adding that yields improve, and wind and fog no longer are concerns.

Munger said controlled horticulture applications, like shade houses, will continue to dominate in Baja California because they result in better yields than field-grown methods and provide more consistent product, which takes pressure off the packinghouse.

However, he pointed out that production costs are significantly greater than open-field production methods.

Fortunately, the benefits of increased yields and high-quality product that shade houses produce compensate for the additional labor and packing costs they require, he said.

Not every company with a deal in Baja California is on the shade house bandwagon.

Expo Fresh LLC has grown some tomatoes in greenhouses and plans to plant 50 hectares in shade houses toward the end of the current season, said sales manager Bob Schachtel.

However, Schachtel said shade houses have drawbacks.

“I have a definite problem (with shade houses), especially if it rains,” he said. “It’s a real mess.”

Most of the firm’s tomatoes still are field grown. Schachtel said the company may plant more under shade houses, but only “if they work.”



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There's also a co-op in the Pescadero area that provides a significant crop to grocers NOB. Mostly cherry and grape tomatoes. My understanding is, and I may be wrong, that the Del Cabo tomato output was a primary reason that Alaska Airlines built a refrigerated warehouse by SJD.

That said, even though for someone such as myself, shopping in SoCal, there was a somewhat strange spike in tomato prices a few months ago. Not any more. Just went into a local market. Jon's. They had Mexican grown roma tomatoes for 3 lbs for a buck.

It would be interesting to see how the numbers chart out over the last three or four decades comparing who/where is supplying SoCal vegetables. I looked but didn't find much. Maybe some of you google search guru's have better luck than I did...