The True Cost of Tomatoes

[Derechos]

Mass-produced tomatoes have become redder, more tender and slightly more flavorful than the crunchy orange “cello-wrapped” specimens of a couple of decades ago, but the lives of the workers who grow and pick them haven’t improved much since Edward R. Murrow’s revealing and deservedly famous Harvest of Shame report of 1960, which contained the infamous quote, “We used to own our slaves; now we just rent them.”

But bit by bit things have improved some, a story that’s told in detail and with insight and compassion by Barry Estabrook in his new book, “Tomatoland.” We can actually help them improve further.

A third of our tomatoes are grown in Florida, and much of that production is concentrated around Immokalee (rhymes with “broccoli”), a town that sits near the edge of the great “river of grass,” or the Everglades, the draining of which began in the late 19th century, thus setting the stage for industrial agriculture. Immokalee is a poor (average annual per-capita income: $8,576), immigrant (70 percent of the population is Latino, mostly Mexican) working town, to the outsider at least a depressing community with few signs of hope.

The tomato fields of Immokalee are vast and surreal. An unplanted field looks like a lousy beach: the “soil,” which is white sand, contains little in the way of nutrients and won’t hold any water. To grow tomatoes there requires mind-boggling amounts of fertilizers, fungicides and pesticides (on roughly the same acreage of tomatoes, Florida uses about eight times as many chemicals as California). The tomatoes are, in effect, grown hydroponically, and the sand seems useful mostly as a medium for holding stakes in place.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/the-true-cost-of-tomatoes/?ref=opinion

[TheMadMonk]

1. Thirty five years ago, I used to hop on my bike, and ride four miles...

...to Cummo's tomato gardens. I was a kid, I was after pocket money, and I got paid what Florida Tomato pickers were paid just a couple of years ago. 50c/50lb crate. 1c/lb.

Oh and those tomatoes were for sauce. You had to be 16 to be trusted to pick for canning, and over 21 before he'd let you pick for market.

Fucking sad.

[kath]

5. Same wage - THIRTY-FIVE YEARS LATER. Pretty much the same situation in the construction and lawn

care industries, probably roofing as well.

And the rich get richer and richer and richer and richer.
(and tell me again how illegal immigration doesn't drive down wages. I'm SERIES.)

[JDPriestly]

2. The solution: Grow your own or buy from a farmer's market.

[AndyTiedye]

6. Like These

…grow your own…

[JDPriestly]

7. Wow! I mostly garden in big, big pots. I dream of a garden big

enough to produce that many tomatoes.

What state are you in?

[AndyTiedye]

8. California. That Was from 5 Plants

[JDPriestly]

9. I am guessing you planted an heirloom or two. I think I will try those

next year. Ironically, considering this is Southern California, I have almost too much shade for tomatoes. We have big trees that cool our house in the summer and protect us from cold wind in the winter, but --- it's not great for tomatoes. Now if only I could talk my husband into letting me grow some tomatoes in our very sunny front yard . . . .

I am growing basil and a few other greens there, but they are not obviously vegetables. Oh, well. I'll keep trying.

It is a joy to see your tomatoes.
\

[AndyTiedye]

13. We Are In a Pretty Shady (and Often Foggy) Spot Too, But We Get Some Sun

[Liberal_in_LA]

12. they look so different from store bought

[blueamy66]

11. That's what I am doing.

I haven't bought a tomato in over a month. Heck, I'm giving them away at work.

It's fun too!

[WinkyDink]

14. I'm doing both. But in PA, my garden is just beginning to show yellow flowers.

[Maru Kitteh]

3. I buy local, or as close as I can get. I'd love to build myself a small greenhouse.

I have a love of tomatoes that borders on worship.

[jberryhill]

4. I can't imagine the damage done to Joplin alone - it's been a devastating season

[slackmaster]

10. I grow my own and can what I can't eat fresh.

I've been doing it for many years.

[donheld]

15. The ONLY way to do it.