The acreage of processing tomatoes grown in the region has been rebounding and the Ontario Processing Vegetable Growers is taking steps to continue that trend.
A new program has been announced that involves area growers giving processors an incentive to increase their tomato volumes, according to Ron Van Damme, District 1 chair of the OPVG (Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers). He said using 2015 as base, if a processor contracts with growers for more tons of tomatoes in 2016 than last year, the processor will receive $5 off each ton over the 2015 level.
“I think it shows the growers are being proactive in trying to get more production,” Van Damme said, adding the goal is to make it a win-win situation for farmers and processors. “We want our processors to do well, too, (because) when you’re in the processing tomato business, you need a processor,” he said. Van Damme, a Wallaceburg-area tomato farmer, said the amount of processing tomato acres to be grown this year is still to be determined. However, he added, “we’re very optimistic we’re going to see a slight increase in production.”
Van Damme said part of the optimism comes from recent media reports that French’s has committed to only using locally-grown tomatoes in the ketchup it sells in Canada. The company gets its tomato paste from Highbury Canco, which bought the former Heinz processing plant in Leamington after it closed in 2014.
While he cautioned nothing is definite, Van Damme noted there is optimism some of the former Heinz growers will have a chance to get back into the tomato growing business. He sees the French’s ketchup story as a good example of how you can buy locally-produced tomatoes in a product that’s available in local stores. There is a big local food movement going on and Van Damme said the OPVG “wants to get across the point that you can buy local by buying canned and frozen vegetables if you know which labels to buy.”
OPVG also believes it has another good news story from an environmental point-of-view. Regions such as California, which have a “water-deficit,” have to irrigate from the time crops are planted up until the harvest, Van Damme said. The majority of processing tomatoes in the southern Ontario region are grown under rain-fed conditions, he added. “We only supplement irrigate . . . we only have to irrigate when it gets really dry.” Van Damme said tomato paste is being transported by truck or rail from California to Ontario processors when it can be sourced locally. “We’ve analyzed it and we’re competitively priced,” he said.
