You see greehouse tomatoes in your grocery store now, I assume that's when
you meant, because they are considered a specialty product that some
consumers are willing to pay a premium for. The companies supplying
greenhouse tomatoes now are not making much money now. They make their
money out-of-season. They grow tomatoes now because grocery stores want
them now. The controlled environment and production systems allow growers
to very accurately schedule both harvest and fruit size.
Remember, we, the entire country, as consumers have voted for product
uniformity with our pockets. Since we believe bigger is better only the
biggest tomatoes are good. And we only buy the biggest tomatoes. We feel
cheated if we have to buy a small tomato. If, all the tomatoes are the same
size they are all the best and we are happy consumers!
Tom
*************************************************************
Thomas E. Wall
Horticulturist
Ohio State University, Piketon Research and Extension Center
1864 Shyville Rd.
Piketon, OH 45661-9749
614-289-2071 614-292-4900 (Columbus)
614-289-4591 FAX 614-292-1953 FAX (Columbus)
Wall.59@OSU.EDU