California Fruit and Vegetable

Category: Fruiting Vegetables

  • Weed Management Critical Needs for CA Processing Tomatoes

    Amber Vinchesi-Vahl, UCCE — The Pest Management Strategic Plan for Processing Tomatoes in California (see attachment) was published in May 2021 and encompasses a wealth of information on pest issues and farming practices for processing tomatoes in California.

    Myself, Cooperative Extension Specialist Cassandra Swett, and UC IPM collaborated on creating this document directly from stakeholder input and funding from the Western IPM Center. Below I have highlighted the documented critical needs for managing weeds in processing tomato production in California (more detail on each can be found in the PMSP, cited below). These needs were prioritized by growers, PCAs, academics and industry for the state, the northern growing region and the southern growing region and include research, regulatory and education priorities.

    “Statewide Critical Needs for Weeds

    Research

    1. Develop and identify management methods (including, but not limited to, herbicides) that work for difficult-to-control and perennial weeds, particularly nutsedge and field bindweed.
      1. Better understand weed biology and how to influence weed biology for the purposes of weed management, especially methods to break the dormancy of belowground structures (especially field bindweed and nutsedge).
    2. Develop effective, affordable methods to eradicate branched broomrape from processing tomato fields, prevent its spread, and manage infestations if it becomes well established in California (see Northern Region Critical Needs for Weeds for more information).
      1. Identify effective and practical sanitation methods, especially for eliminating broomrape seed on harvesting equipment (See Statewide General Critical Needs #3).
      2. Develop methods to detect branched broomrape and Egyptian broomrape in tomato fields more easily.” (p. 12).

    “Northern Region Critical Needs for Weeds

    Research

    1. Develop integrated weed management methods (including herbicides) for difficult weeds such as fleabane, horseweed, groundcherries, velvetleaf, nightshades, and glyphosate-resistant ryegrass and sunflowers.
    2. Conduct necessary efficacy research to register herbicides as described in the Northern Region Critical Needs for Weeds, Regulatory Needs.
    3. Identify environmental conditions and production practices that produce different weed problems, including soil quality and water management, and the efficacy of cultural practices to manage such weeds.
    4. Determine effective management practices for broomrape infestations.Research management practices (including herbicides) that control nightshades and reduce reliance on the costly practice of hand weeding.Research management practices (including herbicides) that control nightshades and reduce reliance on the costly practice of hand weeding.
      1. Determine the efficacy of methyl bromide alternatives (e.g., metam sodium/metam potassium, solarization, conventional herbicides).
      2. Identify biological control agents that may attack broomrape and test potential options.
      3. Determine or confirm how broomrape spreads from field to field, and ways to prevent its spread.
    6. Test efficacy of more postemergence herbicides (particularly those that can be sprayed over the top of the crop) and herbicides available for fallow bed weed control.

    Regulatory

    1. Add or expand herbicide registrations.
      1. Register more fallow bed and preplant herbicides and increase application options (especially aerial and helicopter applications) to give growers weed control options to use in wet preplant conditions.
      2. Explicitly register herbicides for fallow bed management, not just preplant use.
      3. Identify and register herbicides that can be used near almond orchards.
      4. Register herbicides for difficult weeds such as fleabane, groundcherries, horseweed, nightshades, velvetleaf, and glyphosate-resistant ryegrass and sunflowers.
      5. Pursue 24(c) labels or Section 18 exemptions where necessary and possible.
      6. Register postemergence herbicides that are safe to apply over the top of the tomato crop to kill late-season weeds.

    Education

    1. Educate growers and pest control advisers on how to reduce herbicide drift. Many of the herbicides registered in processing tomato (e.g., carfentrazone) have drift issues.
    2. Conduct outreach to growers and pest control advisers about impacts of soil quality, water management, and other conditions that produce specific weed problems and how to avoid them via cultural practices.
    3. Educate growers and pest control advisers on how to reduce and manage glyphosate-resistant weeds (especially ryegrass, fleabane, and sunflower).” (p. 17).

    “Southern Region Critical Needs for Weeds

    Research

    1. Develop effective alternatives to glyphosate, especially those that are systemically translocated.
    2. Enhance cultivation methods for removing weeds, such as via finger and torsion weeders or robotic technology.
    3. Increase efforts to find effective biological control agents for weeds (e.g., research the effectiveness of the herbivorous mite that attacks Russian thistle).

    Regulatory

    1. Register any effective and viable alternatives to glyphosate, especially systemically translocated herbicides.

    Education

    1. Educate growers on whether or how natural enemies can be used to manage Russian thistle and other relevant weeds.” (p. 17).

    Weeds come up frequently in other areas of the PMSP, especially in relation to insect pest management.

    You can also find descriptions of common weed problems on page 45 and weed management practices are included in the Farming and IPM Practices section starting on page 58. There is a weed occurrence table on page 75 in Appendix I, and efficacy tables for herbicides and nonchemical management starting on page 93 in Appendix II.

    Martin, T., C. Swett, A. Vinchesi-Vahl, and S. Parreira. 2021. Pest Management Strategic Plan for California Processing Tomato Production. https://ipmdata.ipmcenters.org/documents/pmsps/2021_07_22_Processing_Tomato_PMSP_final.pdf

  • CA Tomato Processors Expect To Contract 12.4 Million Tons In 2023

    As of January, California’s tomato processors reported they have, or will have, contracts for 12.4 million tons in 2023, which is an increase of 18% compared to 10.5 million contracted tons forecast in the August 2022 California Processing Tomato Report. Processors estimate that the contracted production for 2023 will come from 248,000 acres, generating an average yield of 50.0 tons per acre. The contracted planted acreage forecast is 8% higher than the 2022 acreage of 229,000 reported under contract in August.

    The USDA-NASS Pacific Regional Office surveyed California’s tomato processors for their intended contract acreage and tonnage for the upcoming 2023 season. The data reported by processors was either tonnage with derived acreage, or acreage with derived tonnage.

    This early processing tomato estimate is funded by the California League of Food Producers.

  • Wild Tomato Genome will Benefit Domesticated Cousins

    A team of researchers has assembled a reference genome for Solanum lycopersicoides, a wild relative of the cultivated tomato, and developed web-based tools to help plant researchers and breeders improve the crop.

    Solanum lycopersicoides (S. lycopersicoides) harbors a gene making the plant resistant to a particular strain of bacterial speck disease. The gene could be introduced into cultivated tomatoes to protect them from the pathogen.

    That discovery led Boyce Thompson Institute researchers to sequence the plant’s genome and create online resources to facilitate the discovery of more genes that could improve tomatoes.

    “There wasn’t even really a discussion about whether to sequence Solanum lycopersicoides, it was just obvious to do it,” said Susan Strickler, director of the BTI Computational Biology Center (BCBC). Strickler is co-corresponding author of the paper describing the S. lycopersicoides genome, which was published in The Plant Journal on May 18.

    Wild relatives of crops are becoming increasingly valuable to plant researchers and breeders. During the process of domestication, crops tend to lose many genes, but wild relatives often retain genes that could be useful – such as genes that confer resistance to drought and disease.

    In their study, the researchers demonstrated the value of the new genome by finding several candidate genes associated with compounds – phenolics and carotenoids – that contribute to the species’ color, flavor and nutrition, as well as other genes associated with disease resistance.

    Perhaps more importantly, a larger goal of the project was to make the S. lycopersicoides reference genome as widely accessible and useful to the scientific community as possible.

    “These kinds of data are added to the National Center for Biotechnology Information repository as a general requirement, and that’s important, but not everyone is a bioinformaticist or has access to bioinformatics resources to analyze the data,” said Adrian Powell, assistant director of BCBC and a first author on the paper.

    “To increase access and ease of exploring the genome, we developed web-based tools and components that researchers beyond our project team could use and add to,” he said.

    One tool is a S. lycopersicoides genome browser available on the Sol Genomics Network website, which serves as community resource and repository for tomatoes and other species in the Solanaceae family. Powell said the browser can aid early exploratory studies of the wild tomato species as well as more advanced studies.

    Another tool is an S. lycopersicoides expression atlas, which allows users to analyze RNA sequencing data and visualize which genes are expressed in different plant tissues and under different conditions. “The atlas is based on code first developed for the cultivated tomato, but now we have a version for the wild species,” Powell said.

    These tools, combined with the new reference genome, will help researchers analyze hybrids of the wild tomato and cultivated tomato more readily than they could before, and they will also help researchers who are studying the wild species for its own sake, he said.

    For example, the reference genome could facilitate genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on multiple S. lycopersicoides accessions, to assess genetic diversity of the species and identify candidate genes for the traits breeders might want to introduce into cultivated tomatoes, such as drought tolerance, Powell said.

    Co-authors of the paper include BTI professors Lukas Mueller, Greg Martin, Zhangjun Fei and Jim Giovannoni. Martin is also a professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), and Mueller, Fei and Giovannoni are adjunct professors in CALS. Giovannoni is also a research molecular biologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS).

    The study was supported in part by grants from the joint ERA CAPS Regulatome project, the National Science Foundation, the Triad Foundation, the Max-Planck-Society and the European Union project PlantaSyst, and Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research. — By Michael J. Haas, Boyce Thompson Institute, Cornell University

  • Anaerobically Digested Dairy Manure to Serve as Liquid Fertilizer for Tomatoes

    Researchers at UC Davis have found a new, safe way to treat dairy manure for use as a high quality, organic liquid fertilizer on fresh produce crops.  Watch this interview with Ruihong Zhang from UC Davis as she shares the results of their studies and read more in California Dairy Magazine.

    Please thank this video’s sponsor Clean Energy for their industry support.

  • An Aromatic Tomato Could be Looming – a La Heirloom Varieties

    You can scarcely find a tasty, heirloom tomato in the grocery store. But University of Florida scientists helped discover a way to enhance tomato smell and taste. Breeding efforts over the last half century have emphasized traits that are important to producers – yield, disease resistance, appearance and post-harvest shelf life among them.

    While those traits are important, modern commercial varieties tend to fall short of the flavor potential shown in older varieties. But consumers want tomatoes that taste and smell good.

    Indeed, in a study published in 2012, consumers who taste-tested several tomato varieties preferred tomatoes with high levels of nitrogenous volatiles.

    For years, consumers have lamented what they deem as the bland taste of tomatoes. Any flavor you savor when you bite into the fruit comes from a combination of many aroma compounds. Some of those compounds contain nitrogen, and they add fruity, floral and tomato vine profiles to the flavor mix. Working on an international team of scientists, two UF/IFAS researchers helped find a route to several important nitrogen-containing tomato flavor compounds.

    In a newly published study, scientists showed that five of the compounds are part of a biochemical pathway for synthesis of these important flavor compounds.

    Using a closely related fruit, Solanum pennellii, scientists found a site on a chromosome essential to produce detectable nitrogenous volatiles in tomatoes, said Denise Tieman, a UF/IFAS research assistant professor of horticultural sciences.

    That data led scientists to identify a step in the pathway to nitrogen-containing flavor compounds.

    “Now that we know how these compounds are made in tomatoes, we can identify varieties that have the heirloom version of the enzyme and high levels of these flavor compounds, and we can breed this trait into modern tomatoes to improve flavor,” Tieman said.

    Tomatoes produce many aroma volatiles, including nitrogen-containing volatiles that are relatively rare in other fruits.

    Since these volatiles are active at low concentrations, increasing their levels does not impact yield or fruit size.

    Tomatoes are the most valuable fruit produced worldwide. Indeed, in 2020, American farmers harvested about 12,600 tons of fresh market tomatoes and 11 million tons of processing tomatoes from 273,00 acres. That adds up to $1 billion in revenue. Florida harvested 26,000 areas of tomatoes during the 2018-2019 season, valued at almost $426 million.

    The new research, published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was led by Harry Klee, a UF/IFAS professor emeritus of horticultural sciences and Charles Goulet, a professor of plant science at Universite Laval in Quebec City, Canada. — By Brad Buck, University of Florida Institute of Food & Agricultural Sciences

  • Management of Fungal Diseases of Tomato Webinar, Feb. 23

    On February 23, 2022, 3-4 pm Dr. Brenna J. Aegerter, Farm Advisor with the University of California Cooperative Extension San Joaquin County will lead a zoom meeting under the UC Ag Experts webinar series discussing powdery mildew, black mold fruit rot, and various soilborne diseases in processing tomatoes. She will describe symptoms, factors that contribute to their development, and management options. 1.0 CEU (other) from DPR and 1 CEU (IPM) from CCA are pending. Register to attend the virtual meeting HERE.

  • CA Tomato Processors Forecast Larger Crop In 2022

    USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service — As of January, California’s tomato processors reported they have, or will have, contracts for 12.2 million tons in 2022, which is an increase of 10% compared to 11.1 million contracted tons forecast in the August 2021 California Processing Tomato Report. Processors estimate that the contracted production for 2022 will come from 245,000 acres, generating an average yield of 49.8 tons per acre. The contracted planted acreage forecast is 7% higher than the 2021 acreage of 229,000 reported under contract in August.

    The USDA-NASS Pacific Regional Office surveyed California’s tomato processors for their intended contract acreage and tonnage for the upcoming 2022 season. The data reported by processors was either tonnage with derived acreage, or acreage with derived tonnage.

    This early processing tomato estimate is funded by the California League of Food Producers.

  • Moonshadow Joins ‘Galaxy’ of Colorful Tomatoes

    Moonshadow, a deeply pigmented purplish-red, oblong tomato, was bred using traditional crossing methods and derived from a cross between a black grape tomato and a high-flavor orange grape tomato. It is now available for pre-order, for spring 2022 planting, from High Mowing Organic Seeds.

    Moonshadow is the sixth variety in the Galaxy Suite, a colorful, multishaped group of medley grape tomatoes bred by Phillip Griffiths, associate professor in the School of Integrative Plant Science at Cornell AgriTech.

    “There’s increasing consumer interest in foods that are unique, aesthetically pleasing and colorful,” Griffiths said. “Farmers markets have been expanding considerably, and consumers who shop at these markets want both local produce and products not typically available in supermarkets. The market for small-fruited, single-bite medley types is increasing, and it has huge potential going forward.”

    Moonshadow tomatoes.

    “I hope that these tomatoes contribute to making healthy food more fun and more interesting, while providing local and organic growers with increased options for high-value products. If you have limited land, expensive land, you can get more value out of these kinds of crops, especially using high-tunnel greenhouses,” shared Griffiths.

    Farmers markets have blossomed across the U.S. over the past 25 years. In 1994, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture began tracking, there were 1,755 farmers markets. There are more than 8,000 today. Consumer interest in organic foods also continues to grow: in 2020, organic food sales in the U.S. topped $50 billion, growing 4.6% from the year before; total food sales grew by 2%.

    Griffiths began crossing heirloom tomatoes in 2004, and some of those selections became the Galaxy Suite varieties. He specifically wanted to create varieties that were new, different and would support small farmers, organic growers and home gardeners in New York and the Northeast, though the tomatoes grow well across the U.S., he said.

    “I hope that these tomatoes contribute to making healthy food more fun and more interesting, while providing local and organic growers with increased options for high-value products,” Griffiths said. “If you have limited land, expensive land, you can get more value out of these kinds of crops, especially using high-tunnel greenhouses.”

    Even in the small-fruited market classes, growers generally favor bigger tomatoes that are easier and faster to harvest and package, Griffiths said. Meanwhile, consumers seem to prefer one-bite cherry tomatoes; however, many cherries have issues with fruit skin splitting on the vine or after harvest. Griffiths wanted to find a happy medium: small-fruited, high-flavor tomatoes, as consumers prefer, with better shelf-stability and after-harvest quality.

    Moonshadow and the Galaxy Suite fit the bill, said Paul Betz, sales manager at High Mowing Organic Seeds. The company runs test plots with new seeds before offering them to consumers.

    “Sales of the Galaxy Suite varieties have increased every season. I’ve also seen growers trying them one season and coming back for more the next year, so I think they are fitting a nice niche for people,” Betz said. “First of all, the flavor is amazing and rich, at all stages of ripeness. And they’re firmer, more rugged – they can handle transportation and packaging and arrive with unblemished fruit, which is really important for consumers.”

    For those interested in growing Galaxy Suite tomatoes, Betz offers this advice:

    –Plants are quite vegetative, so don’t plant them too closely spaced.  

    -In trials, the tomatoes grew best outside, in a weave or trellis.  

    -They also grow well trellised in a high tunnel, like a caterpillar, but Betz wouldn’t recommend growing them in a traditional greenhouse because they produce so much plant material and pruning cuts their yield significantly.  

    Griffiths continues to work on additional crosses and hopes to add more varieties to the Galaxy Suite in coming years, he said. — By Krisy Gashler Cornell College of Agriculture & Life Sciences

  • Tomato Trade with Mexico could Cost US Growers $250M a year

    As Mexico increases tomato exports across the world, including to the United States, prices plummet for American growers. That practice could cost American growers as much as $252 million per year — or 27% in revenue — if imports from Mexico increase by 50% in coming years, based on historical trends, new University of Florida research shows.

    That’s a huge loss for American farmers, who produced 1.3 billion pounds of fresh tomatoes in 2020, less than one-third the harvest from the year 2000.

    That decline is due to competition from Mexico and other challenges, said Zhengfei Guan, an associate professor of food and resource economics at the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

    Zhengfei Guan, a UF/IFAS associate professor of food and resource economics at the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center, studies tomato trading and its impacts on American growers, among other areas of research.

    Guan just published a study on the consequences of intensifying Mexican competition for American growers. The market positions of Mexican and domestic tomato industries completely reversed over the past 20 years. Mexico now dominates the U.S. market, with three times more market share than the domestic industry. That change sparked Guan’s interest in pursuing the new study.

    “The two countries had a series of trade disputes over fruit and vegetables recently,” he said. “One reason is that surging imports from Mexico boosted by subsidies have depressed prices, and American growers are quickly losing market shares.”

    “The findings from our study will provide tomato producers and policy makers with important insights on the challenges and the sustainability of the U.S. tomato industry,” Guan said.

    In his study, Guan measured the potential losses the U.S. industry will sustain as a result of the increasing imports from Mexico, given the steep growth over the years. As a frame of reference, the volume of imported tomatoes from Mexico increased by about 60% over the years 2009-2019.

    Results of Guan’s research show that prices of domestic tomatoes are particularly sensitive to imports from Mexico in an increasingly saturated market. The imports are especially damaging to the Florida tomato industry which has about $400 million in sales and has the same harvest seasons as Mexico.

    The trade deficit complicates matters for farmers in several commodities – not just tomatoes. Specifically, fruit and vegetables — such as tomatoes, strawberries, peppers, cucumbers and melons – accounted for 50% of the total U.S. agricultural imports from Mexico in 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “But all may not be lost, if the US fruit and vegetable industry could revolutionize the production technology,” said Guan. “Mechanization or automation will be a game changer and is the future for this labor-intensive industry.” — By Brad Buck, University of Florida Institute of Food & Agricultural Sciences

  • California Processing Tomato Crop Forecast Below May’s Expectation

    Contracted production for California processing tomatoes is forecast at 11.1 million tons, averaging 48.9 tons per acre. The current production forecast is 1.9% below last year’s contracted production, and 4.3% below the May forecast. The projected harvested acreage of tomatoes grown under contract is 227,000 acres, which 0.4% lower than in 2020.

    Drought concerns impacted planting decisions for the 2021 processing tomato crop and acreage has decreased significantly from early season intentions. Extreme high temperatures in May and throughout the summer lowered expected yields and slowed down operations at the canneries. Crop quality is reported to be average or slightly above average.

    Harvest began the first week of July and the flow of tomatoes has generally kept pace with the previous two years. The Processing Tomato Advisory Board published shipments through August 28, 2021, showing a 4.3% decrease compared to the end of August in 2020.

    This processing tomato estimate is funded by the California League of Food Producers.