Florida tomato war gets ugly

[Guest guest]

Florida tomato war gets Ugly

By Susan Salisbury

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

The rule is this: No tomato destined for sale outside Florida shall cross the Suwannee River unless it is the right shape.

That's the way it's been since 1955, when a federal marketing order established the standards for what a Florida tomato is all about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joe Procacci says that rule leaves his company out of luck.

Procacci is the chief executive officer of Philadelphia-based Procacci Brothers Sales Corp., which grows the UglyRipe, a flavorful but misshapen tomato sometimes described in the industry as "cat-faced." Last year, the Florida Tomato Committee, a panel made up of major growers in the state's $500 million tomato industry, ruled that the UglyRipe could not be sold outside Florida because it did not meet the standards of perfection the marketing rule required.

Not round enough. Not pretty enough. Not smooth enough.

The ruling and Procacci's battle to overturn it has sparked an intrastate fight that could add fuel to the cross-border brawl that Florida tomato growers have had going with NAFTA partners Mexico and Canada for the past 10 years.

Taste trumps looks

Procacci is the first to admit the UglyRipes aren't pretty.

"Our tomatoes are ugly. They don't have the shape. They don't grade well enough to be shipped out of Florida," he said.

But consumers don't care about ugliness, he said. They enjoy the taste. Sales of UglyRipes, which were available last week at Publix Super Markets for $3.49 a pound, have increased 285 percent since 2000, Procacci said.

An associate manager at the Boca Raton outlet of Whole Foods Market, the Austin, Texas-based chain specializing in organic foods, said UglyRipes are increasingly in demand.

"They're becoming more popular every year," Nat Cino said. "It's because of the taste."

Last week, Procacci Brothers filed a petition with the tomato committee asking for a certificate of privilege to export the UglyRipe out of state. The 12-member committee, on which Procacci's company is represented, had allowed the UglyRipe to be trucked outside Florida for three straight seasons to help establish the new product in the marketplace. But in December 2003, the other members of the panel ruled against granting another certificate.

"We grew 3.5 million boxes of UglyRipes, and had to destroy 40,000 pounds a day — almost $3 million worth — because we weren't allowed to sell them outside Florida," Procacci said.

The company has farms in Immokalee and Wimauma in Southwest Florida, and Jennings in North Florida.

After the ruling, Procacci filed a complaint against the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the other 11 committee members and their companies in U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania. The complaint was withdrawn, but Procacci said the company will take legal action again if it isn't permitted an exception for the UglyRipe, which his company developed and trademarked.

Procacci Brothers wants an answer to its appeal within 30 days.

For their part, other tomato committee officials say the regulations ensure consistent quality for Florida tomatoes shipped all over the nation and across the world. From Oct. 15 to June 15, no tomato grower is allowed to market Florida tomatoes past the Suwannee River in North Florida that don't meet shape, size, maturity and other standards — and that includes any UglyRipes that don't make the grade — said Reggie Brown, manager of the tomato panel, which is based in Maitland.

Crossbred for durability

Roma, cherry, grape and greenhouse tomatoes are exempt from the federal marketing order in effect for nearly 50 years. But similar rules also cover tomatoes imported from other countries, such as Mexico.

Procacci first marketed the UglyRipe in 1999, after crossbreeding heirloom seeds with other tomatoes to increase durability. Brown said the UglyRipe isn't a true heirloom.

"It's a hybrid round tomato that is obviously rougher than some other hybrid round tomatoes," Brown said.

Procacci's complaint doesn't do much for Fort Pierce-based tomato grower David Neill, president of Triangle Farms and a tomato committee member. Neill said lowering the standards for the UglyRipes could mean doing the same for tomatoes from Canada and Mexico.

With tomatoes going for $30 a box, compared with as little as $6 a box a year ago, the committee members could benefit their companies by lowering the export standards, Neill said, but the growers want the standards to remain high.

"If the tomatoes are as good as he says they are and everybody wants them, why can't he market the off-grades in the state and ship the better ones out, like the rest of us do?" he said. "We're not asking him to do anything we're not doing. We're all bound by the same rules."

In a typical year, about 20 percent of the state's round tomatoes don't meet the committee's export standards and stay in the state. But Procacci said about 80 percent of the UglyRipes don't meet the standards, and it's not worth it to separate out the relatively small number of tomatoes that would.

"We can't get 100 percent of our cost out of 20 percent of the tomatoes," he said.

He contends the other Florida growers are jealous of the UglyRipe's success, and want to keep it from competing with their tomatoes out of state.

"This tomato doesn't compete with that cardboard-tasting tomato. It competes with the greenhouse tomatoes and other premium-tasting tomatoes," Procacci said. "The Florida round tomatoes are excellent for quick-service restaurants like McDonald's, Wendy's and Burger King."

Procacci, with its subsidiaries Gargiulo Inc. and Santa Sweets Inc., is Florida's largest tomato grower, producing about 15 percent of the nation's total, including the standard round type. It also grows the UglyRipe in North Carolina and New Jersey and owns both the trademark and exclusive rights to the seeds. Last year it grew about 4 million pounds of tomatoes in Florida — the only place in the United States where tomatoes grow in winter.

Brown said the committee felt last year that it was not appropriate to give the UglyRipe an exemption, but will evaluate the latest petition.

"We will act appropriately in dealing with any petition that comes forward," he said.

Procacci said he'll be waiting, and hoping for the best.

"We're planting 150 acres this season," he said. "If they give us the exemption, we will plant more."