Consumers have the right to all the varieties of produce that farmers grow!

[Guest guest]

Judy Pokras

Editor/Founder

RawFoodsNewsMagazine.com

6090 Medici Court, #207

Sarasota, FL 34243

941-360-8572

vegwriter

 

February 13, 2005

 

 

To the Florida Tomator Growers group

Via e-mail

 

Consumers have the right to all the varieties of produce that

farmers grow, including tomatoes.

 

Dear Florida Tomato Growers,

 

Consumers have the right to all the varieties of produce that farmers grow.

The Florida Tomato Growers group does not have the right to edit what we

consumers can buy!

 

I believe it is a crime to limit the market. This is the United States, a

democracy, not a totalitarian country!

 

Making recipes is my hobby and my necessity, and I seek out the widest

variety of produce possible. I buy produce for its taste.

 

It is crime enough that the hundreds of varieties of produce grown in the

world are not available to consumers. It is equally a crime for a group of

farmers to keep their competitors out of the market!

 

The Tomato Growers Group should be drawn and quartered! Shame on them!

 

I am urging all of the readers of my magazine to take action against this

crime.

 

Judy Pokras

Editor/Founder

www.rawfoodsnewsmagazine.com

An online magazine founded in March 2001and celebrating the raw foods

lifestyle with authoritative info, breaking news, and fun features. You'll find

raw

food recipes, celebrity news, sections for parents and kids, regional listings,

book reviews, a free e-mail newsletter you can to and lots more!

 

cc:

Rep. Katharine Harris

Sen. Bill Nelson

Sen. Mel Martinez

 

January 23, 2005

 

Attack of the Killer Tomato Snobs

by Radley Balko

 

Radley Balko is a policy analyst for the Cato Institute.

 

At the beginning of this winter, the United States faced a shortage of

tomatoes. Many restaurants would put tomatoes on sandwiches or burgers only if

you

specifically asked for them.

 

The hurricanes in Florida last year were a big reason why. The short supply

of tomatoes meant prices were higher, too, which in turn meant less demand.

 

Or so Florida tomato growers claimed. But another reason tomatoes are less

sought after lately could be that they taste like construction paper. They may

be round, red, and firm to the touch, but winter tomatoes are picked while

they're still green, then doused with chemicals throughout the shipping process

as

they make their way to the grocer. This leaves them red, but a bit short on

taste.

 

Enter the UglyRipe, a lumpen, misshapen, odd duck of a tomato grown near

Naples, Florida, by the Procacci brothers. The typical UglyRipe resembles what

tomato people call a " cat's face. " It has crevices, ridges and scars. It's

rarely

round, and is difficult to slice for sandwiches. It's also delicious.

 

UglyRipes are picked pink and shipped in specialized packing to ensure

freshness. That makes them more expensive, yet consumers had been plucking them

off

the shelves by the armful because of their sweet taste and juicy,

chin-dripping goodness. Customers, it seems, value taste in tomatoes far more

than they

value shape, color, and uniformity.

 

Unfortunately, the Florida Tomato Committee holds the opposite view. Set up

under a 1937 law that allows farmers to form marketing groups that exert tight

control over what can be sold, agricultural marketing committees like the

Florida Tomato Committee have the power not only to dictate what comes to

market,

they can also force farmers to contribute resources to marketing campaigns.

 

The Supreme Court will rule this spring whether such tactics are legal in a

case brought by dairy farmers who were forced to help pay for the " Got Milk? "

campaign.

 

But back to tomatoes. The Florida Tomato Committee ruled in early January

that Procacci's UglyRipes are simply too ugly to be sold as a Florida tomato.

The

decision will cost Procacci about $3 million, and will rob tomato lovers

across the country of a great-tasting fruit (yes, the tomato is a fruit).

 

Never mind customer tastes, or taste in general. The FTC's only concern is

that a tomato be red, round, and indistinguishable from the tomatoes around it.

" [The ruling] has nothing to do with taste, " committee compliance officer Skip

Jonas told the New York Times. " Taste is subjective, " he explained.

 

Reggie Brown, the committee's manager, told USA Today, " If you allowed the

producers of UglyRipe to ship any quality of tomato, then how could you justify

not allowing any quality tomato into the market place? "

 

The answer, of course, is that the free market would decide what is and isn't

a worthy tomato, instead of a select group of tomato snobs who represent

those guilty of what passes for a Beefsteak these days.

 

These marketing committees are anachronistic -- assuming they were ever a

very good idea in the first place. In fact, the UglyRipe case has revealed what

these committees really are -- government-sanctioned protectionist rackets

designed to stifle innovation, protect industry dinosaurs, and keep a better

product from ever becoming competitive.

 

" These requirements serve to ensure customer satisfaction and improve grower

returns, " the committee wrote. " Not holding the UglyRipe tomato to these same

standards defies orderly marketing and provides it unfair, undue marketing

advantage. "

 

Given that the UglyRipe is a more expensive, visually unappealing tomato, it

is difficult to see how merely allowing it into the grocery store presents an

" undue marketing advantage. " Unless, of course, current Florida tomatoes are

so awful that customers would actually prefer an uglier, more expensive, but

tastier option. That seems to be what's happening.

 

Should the Procaccis' case get as far, this is one example of where the

Supreme Court could justifiably invoke the Interstate Commerce Clause --

something

it has been far too ready to invoke over the years when it isn't justified,

but far too reticent to invoke when it is.

 

The framers included the ICC to prevent one state from enacting laws that

restrict commerce and competition in other states. It was intended to allow

Congress to set up what you might call a " free trade zone " between the states.

The

Florida Tomato Committee's anti-UglyRipe ruling amounts to classic

protectionism, protecting Florida's old-guard tomato growers from competition,

at the

expense of consumers.

 

The ruling is ripe to be struck down by Congress, an action that should be

upheld by the Supreme Court.

 

A version of this article appeared on FOXNews.com, Tuesday, January 18, 2005