Continued demand for tomatoes

Whether they’re diced into bruschetta, sliced into a Caprese salad or eaten like an apple, fresh tomatoes are in high demand. According to the recently released USDA-ERS 2015 Vegetables and Pulses Yearbook, U.S. residents ate about 20.6 pounds of tomatoes per capita in 2014. In Canada, there are about 19.1 pounds of fresh tomato available for consumption per person, according to Statistics Canada (CANSIM Table 002-0011).

In this month’s second annual State of the Tomato Report, we start off by sharing the latest research on tomato production among Produce Grower readers. On page 24, you can read more about a new year-round tomato grower in Chicagoland who is striving to bring a consistent supply of delicious, high-quality, local produce to the area. For more about the latest diet trends and how tomatoes are involved, turn to page 29 for Leslie Halleck’s take. We also spoke with Nadia Sabeh, author of “Tomato Greenhouse Roadmap: a Guide to Greenhouse Tomato Production,” about what she sees as the latest tomato tendencies. Entomologist Raymond Cloyd gives an overview on tomato insect and mite pests and how to manage them starting on page 33. We finish up the report by bringing you some of the latest tomato varieties to come to market on page 36.

We would like to extend our appreciation to Nufarm for their continued support in sponsoring this valuable report again this year.

We’re still seeing soil-based growing media dominate, although 27 percent of growers are using a hydroponic growing method. In our 2015 State of Hydroponic Produce Growing Report, we found that 17 percent of growers surveyed planned to convert part or all of their operation to hydroponic growing in the next year. We profiled two hydroponic tomato growers NatureFresh (page 8) and MightyVine (page 24) this month to get a closer look at this type of growing.

Cherry and slicer tomatoes still dominate the field when it comes to production under cover, with heirlooms following closely behind. These crops have stayed consistent over the past two years.