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At Dodd's Acres Farms, plump Hanover tomatoes are being harvested for local supermarkets and farm stands. The early arrivals of the popular variety are a preview of a crop that has made Virginia among the top tomato producers in the country.
"They taste better than every other tomato," said Jane Dodd, who with her husband Robert cultivates 300 acres of the crop in the county that bears the famous tomato's name. "People say it's the soil, but we say it's TLC."
The vast majority of Virginia's tomato crop is on the vine, weeks from harvest, but some growers have detected consumer wariness about a food that the government assures is free of any taint from a salmonella outbreak that has sickened hundreds nationally.
Jane Dodd knows of a farm stand where a customer passed on purchasing local tomatoes, fearful of the outbreak. "You can't do anything about people's perceptions," she said, inviting anyone to visit their farm just north of Richmond and review their agricultural practices.
When the Food and Drug Administration neglected to list Virginia tomatoes on a list of safe states, the commissioner of the state Department of Agriculture (web|news) and Consumer Services acted quickly. "Virginia tomatoes have never been associated with this outbreak," Todd P. Haymore said last week, after the oversight was corrected.
The concern is understandable: the tomato has pushed aside tobacco and soybeans as Virginia's No. 1 field crop. The state ranks fourth nationally, behind Florida, California and Georgia. In Florida alone, growers estimate the ultimate cost of the outbreak will be more than $500 million, according to an industry Web site of the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association.
While parts of Florida and Mexico were supplying "the vast majority" of tomatoes sold when the salmonella outbreak began in April, they remain the leading but not sole suspects, the FDA said Friday.
Virginia tomato sales total $140 million annually, said Butch Notthingham, a marketing specialist with the state agriculture department and a former grower.
The sandy soil of the Eastern Shore, better known for its annual pony run at Chincoteague, has 5,000-6,000 acres devoted to tomatoes. That represents approximately 80 to 90 percent of the state's total tomato production. "It's really a sweet spot to grow tomatoes," Nottingham said. The Atlantic Gulf Stream creates a climate ideal for tomatoes. The early spring, late fall growing climate parallels Columbia, S.C., he said.
Virginia has not been immune to food-borne contamination. Two outbreaks were reported among the Eastern Shore growers several years back.
Rob Williams, assistant professor in Food Science and Technology, said the industry has worked hard to avoid a repeat of those scares. Industry and government officials visited the Eastern Shore fields last season and concluded growers had instituted the best practices to avoid contamination. "There is no reason to assume that all tomatoes are not safe. In fact, we should assume they are," Williams said.
Virginia growers anticipate a bumper crop because of a mild winter. By July, Eastern Shore tomatoes will be shipped all along the East Coast and into Canada.
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