Estabrook, Barry. TOMATOLAND. (2011). ****.
Although often written in a tedious manner, this book provides an expose of the tomato farming practices in Florida that most of us don’t know about. We know that Florida tomatoes have no taste. They are grown for taste, but for size, weight, and uniformity. The problem is that Florida soil is mostly sand, not sandy soil, but sand like you find at the beach. It contains no nutrients. They have to be added. Add to this drawback the fact that sand and the weather is inducive to a variety of pests and diseases that have to be controlled by chemicals. This means that Florida tomatoes are invariable sprayed with everything in the ag-chemist’s arsenal to allow a harvestable crop. Florida tomato growers use about eight times the amount of chemical sprays as growers in California with equal sized plots. Although California tomatoes are primarily used as the basis for the sauce processors, they are usually full of flavor. Florida tomatoes are picked as ripe greens, and then conveyed to storehouses where they are subjected to treatment with ethylene – a process that turns them red. What stands out about this book, however, is not the abuse of chemicals that ultimately pollute the state and workers, but the atrocious conditions under which the pickers have to work. Many cases of outright slavery have been brought to light, along with innumerable cases of flagrant violations of safety regulations which have led to long-term illnesses among the pickers, including birth defects. There is some hope that the industry will change somewhat, but only in response to consumer pressures. Until that happens, nothing will happen. Recommended.