The Tomato Industry
Lucas Shideler
History 302
12/*7*/2009
Introduction
Today there are about 125 million tons of tomatoes produced in the world. China is the largest producer followed by the U.S. and Turkey. California is the top producer of tomatoes in the U.S. and account for 90% of all processing tomatoes grown in the U.S. (CTGA). There are as many as 7,500 different varieties of tomatoes today.
As to whether a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable;botanically it is a fruit because the tomato is an ovary with the seeds on the inside of a flowering plant. Although it is not as sweet as most fruits and is usually served with other vegetables. After a U.S. tariff law was passed in 1883 it put a tariff on all vegetables that were imported into the states, the Supreme Court had to settle the discrepancy because some people tried to import tomatoes and call them fruits. So on May 10, 1893 the Supreme Court ruled that it is a vegetable.
Development of the tomato in America
* {draw:frame} The History of *Tomatoes in Indiana
The Future of the Tomato Industry
The future of the tomato industry looks very promising with focus going on improving the fruit’s characteristics. At the Western Regional Research Center in Albany, California researcher Merle L. Weaver is researching ways to improve the solids content of the tomato. Currently tomatoes are about ninety-five percent water, which gives you only five percent solids. Merle is producing tomatoes in his lab that have seven to twelve percent solids. Weaver stated “A one percent increase in solids content could be worth $70 to $80 million a year.” (Wood, middle paragraph) Other techniques Weaver uses improve other desirable tomato traits like better flavor, a deeper red color, and a naturally thicker juice that is not as watery.
One of the major topics in tomato breeding today is to breed for resistance against pests that cause damage to the fruit. There are more than 200 species of pests that...