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Joe's Reviews > Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit
Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit
by Barry Estabrook
by Barry Estabrook
This is definitely one of my top five books about tomatoes. OK, OK, it's my absolute top book about tomatoes.
In "Tomatoland", Barry Estabrook discusses modern tomato farming practices in Florida, and how the ridiculous situations has gotten to this point. Tomatoes like dry conditions -- not humid, like Florida, where they are susceptible to fungal diseases; like most plants, they require nutrients from the soil -- although in Florida, tomatoes are typically grown in nutrient-free sand; tomatoes can benefit from a climate that has a cold winter, to kill off pests -- but in Florida, pests are a constant problem.
So why in the world does Florida grow about 1/3 of America's fresh tomatoes? Two main reasons: 1) the warm winters mean that it's possible to grow some sort of tomatoes there year-round, and 2) there continues to be a market for bland, lifeless tomatoes.
Tomatoland does a great job of going through the entire cycle of tomato growing, from the nasty chemicals that are used to prepare the land, to the enormous quantity of pesticides that are used during the growing season -- about eight times as much as California, per acre of tomatoes grown -- to the way they are picked ripe, then reddened with ethylene. The book continues, talking about the terrible conditions for workers: at best, exposed to terrible chemicals and poor working conditions, at worst stuck in true modern-day slavery.
Finally, the book talks about commercial alternatives: smaller farms growing better-tasting tomatoes, in some cases organically, people trying to develop tomatoes that have better natural resistance to pests or cold, and researchers trying to create tomatoes that have the strength and durability of market tomatoes, but have better taste and nutrition.
This book is easy to read, and absolutely compelling. It's well worth reading. The only problem I have with it is that it focuses almost completely on Florida's tomato growing; they do grow about a third of America's fresh tomatoes, but that leaves a lot of other tomatoes (including all canned tomatoes, a completely separate category) that this book almost completely ignores.
In "Tomatoland", Barry Estabrook discusses modern tomato farming practices in Florida, and how the ridiculous situations has gotten to this point. Tomatoes like dry conditions -- not humid, like Florida, where they are susceptible to fungal diseases; like most plants, they require nutrients from the soil -- although in Florida, tomatoes are typically grown in nutrient-free sand; tomatoes can benefit from a climate that has a cold winter, to kill off pests -- but in Florida, pests are a constant problem.
So why in the world does Florida grow about 1/3 of America's fresh tomatoes? Two main reasons: 1) the warm winters mean that it's possible to grow some sort of tomatoes there year-round, and 2) there continues to be a market for bland, lifeless tomatoes.
Tomatoland does a great job of going through the entire cycle of tomato growing, from the nasty chemicals that are used to prepare the land, to the enormous quantity of pesticides that are used during the growing season -- about eight times as much as California, per acre of tomatoes grown -- to the way they are picked ripe, then reddened with ethylene. The book continues, talking about the terrible conditions for workers: at best, exposed to terrible chemicals and poor working conditions, at worst stuck in true modern-day slavery.
Finally, the book talks about commercial alternatives: smaller farms growing better-tasting tomatoes, in some cases organically, people trying to develop tomatoes that have better natural resistance to pests or cold, and researchers trying to create tomatoes that have the strength and durability of market tomatoes, but have better taste and nutrition.
This book is easy to read, and absolutely compelling. It's well worth reading. The only problem I have with it is that it focuses almost completely on Florida's tomato growing; they do grow about a third of America's fresh tomatoes, but that leaves a lot of other tomatoes (including all canned tomatoes, a completely separate category) that this book almost completely ignores.
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