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Southeast Arkansas tomato farmers sitting prettyArkansas 
Arkansas tomato farmers in southeast Arkansas are pleased with their crops and the prospect for a premium price at harvest, according to John Gavin, Bradley County extension staff chair with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. "Right now, we have as pretty a crop as I've ever seen at this stage," Gavin said. "We had a light frost, heavy rains and a couple of hail storms in the area, but we dodged damage from those bullets. Farmers are pleased with bloom production and fruit set." The farmers have been lucky. The hail storms managed to miss the county's tomato farms, the frost caused few, if any problems--a few farmers burned hay in their fields. Raised beds and black plastic mulch kept rains from flooding crops. ThePacker.com online publication said May 14 that a combination of lower acreage, high Arkansas fruit quality, weather woes in Florida and interest in regional deals should boost demand for Arkansas tomatoes this spring and early summer. Farmers in Bradley, Ashley and Drew counties began planting March 25, Gavin said, "but the bulk of the crop was planted the first few days in April." He said the 55 to 60 growers planted about 900 acres. The predominant variety is Amelia, Red Defender, Crista and a newer variety, Red Line, the county agent said. The bulk will be Amelia and Red Defender. Farmers have planted other varieties over the years, but disease problems forced major changes. "We had to go to varieties that resisted tomato spotted wilt," Gavin said. "The disease, a virus caused by thrips insects, was bad from 1996 to 2000. It was damaging 30 to 70 percent of the crop. About 2004, the Mountain Spring variety started dropping off, and we started growing these new disease-resistant lines." In coming years, he predicts that the Fletcher and Mountain Glory varieties will be hot. "Everybody wanted to try these new varieties this year, but there just wasn't enough seed supply," Gavin said. "Both varieties have looked good in our local variety trials." In a year or two, a lot more of these varieties will be planted, he predicted. Gavin said farmers will start picking their crops the first week in June and harvest through mid to late July. He said farmers shoot for an average of about 1,800 to 2,000 20-pound boxes per acre. The price for tomatoes is always higher the first couple of weeks in June and tapers down to a low around July 4 and then starts creeping back up, according to Gavin. The price is usually around $4 or $5 around July 4 when the harvest is at its peak. Arkansas farmers hope to catch a marketing window in early June, which is usually after the Florida tomato season has ended and before the Tennessee crop is mature, Gavin noted. "Acreage-wise, we're probably one of the smallest growing areas in the country. But it's our window off opportunity to capture the market. If Florida is late and Tennessee is early, our window becomes a little narrower." The bulk of Arkansas tomatoes goes north to Kansas, Chicago, Boston, Cincinnati and St. Louis. Gavin said some tomatoes probably head west to Oklahoma and other states. For more information about tomatoes and other Arkansas horticultural crops, contact your county extension agent or visit www.uaex.edu and select Home and Garden, then Fruits, Nuts, Vegetables and Herbs or select Search at the top of the home page and type "tomato." The Cooperative Extension Service is part of the U of A Division of Agriculture. 5/26/08 Date: 5/19/08
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