A welcome break from winter

Published February 03, 2016

There’s nothing quite like stepping foot into a warm greenhouse in the dead of winter, with bright yellow and black bumblebees excitedly buzzing about, yellow tomato flowers in bloom and green tomatoes weighing down tall, healthy plants. Getting an up-close and personal look into any greenhouse operation can be a humbling experience, but it was especially true when we visited this month’s featured tomato grower, NatureFresh Farms. Fellow Produce Grower colleague Cassie Neiden and I headed out to northwestern Ohio to preview their first facility in the U.S. market, one of several 15-acre NatureFresh greenhouses that will eventually make up a 180-acre growing operation. I won’t give any more spoilers (you’ll have to turn to page 8 to find out more), but I will say that we were warmly welcomed by the Canadian leadership and were impressed by the transparency, technology and overall efficiency of the operation.

We’re also excited to bring you the second edition of our State of the Tomato Report. This year we included updated statistics about who’s growing tomatoes and how (starting on page 19), a profile of a new hydroponic grower aiming to provide the most flavorful tomatoes to the Midwest (page 24), insights into how heirloom tomatoes fit into the latest diet trends (page 29), a Q&A with author and greenhouse tomato guru Nadia Sabeh (page 32), an overview of the most problematic tomato pests and mites by entomologist Raymond Cloyd (page 33), and a selection of the latest tomato varieties (page 36).

The Hydroponic Production Primer, a new series by Christopher Currey, also debuts in this issue. After this month’s introduction to the topic, he’ll address other pertinent areas of hydroponic growing such as available, water, nutrition, temperature, light and gases.

And don’t miss our interview with Bryan Silbermann, CEO of the Produce Marketing Association, who reflects on the future of the produce industry as he prepares to pass the baton (page 47).