Why does a tomato cost three dollars?

[Cyrano]

I know that the price of gasoline has pushed up the cost of everything delivered by truck.

Nonetheless, can someone explain to me why a tomato costs three dollars?

[AwakeAtLast]

1. Because it's January?

:shrug:

Considering the time of year, that tomato has traveled a loooonnnng way.

[Cyrano]

5. Back in July and August the price of a tomato was three dollars

[AwakeAtLast]

9. Maybe in the supermarket

My local farmer's market didn't charge that much. I can't wait to get some of my own planted this season.

[BlueJac]

30. which farmers market?

they were 3 dollars here in the NW

[AwakeAtLast]

48. I live in Central IN

Very near where Red Gold is canned.

Never mind the free ones I got from some of my neighbors and my Dad. :)

[NightWatcher]

2. is that for some kind of organic tomato watered by a virgin's sweat, grown on the castle grounds?

seems a bit excessive to me too.

My Victory garden will hopefully be up and running this Spring to avoid things like this.

[Cyrano]

13. No, it's not organic. That's the price in our local supermarkets

[Capn Sunshine]

35. in Nome , Alaska?

if not, I honestly have no idea, because they grow for free in my yard.

[virgogal]

3. I certainly hope you didn't buy it.

[Cyrano]

6. Nope

[panader0]

4. $2.99 a lb here for those hot house tomatos and beefsteaks

Only $.99 a lb for Romas. Romas are fine for nearly all tomato uses except slicing for sandwiches.

[Andy823]

47. Just bought some romas

They were on sale for .77 cents a lb. The others tomatoes were $2.85 a lb. I had 12 plants growing last summer and got a whole lot of fresh tomatoes for salads, sandwich's, cooking and juice. I love fresh tomato juice with a couple peppers and a couple of carrots! I live in Washington state by the way!

[cbayer]

7. At this point, I might be willing to pay that if it didn't taste like recycled cardboard.

For what it's worth, It's an easy plant to grow. I grow them hydroponically. The initial setup may cost a few dollars, but what you get is well worth it.

:hi:

[Bluebear]

54. Try this recipe to coax out some summertime taste....

12 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise, seeds (not cores) removed
1/4 cup good olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons sugar
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
16 ounces fresh salted mozzarella
12 fresh basil leaves, julienned
Directions
Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.

Arrange the tomatoes on a sheet pan, cut sides up, in a single layer. Drizzle with 1/4 cup of olive oil and the balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with the garlic, sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Roast for 2 hours until the tomatoes are concentrated and begin to caramelize. Allow the tomatoes to cool to room temperature.

Cut the mozzarella into slices slightly less than 1/2-inch thick. If the slices of mozzarella are larger than the tomatoes, cut the mozzarella slices in half. Layer the tomatoes alternately with the mozzarella on a platter and scatter the basil on top. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Serve at room temperature.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/roasted-tomato-caprese-salad-recipe/index.html

[Cyrano]

56. Put a piece of pita bread under it and you have a Persian pizza

[Bluebear]

57. OK now I am really salivating :))

[scarletwoman]

8. Possibly bad weather affecting the crops?

I work in the restaurant business, and we get alerts from our suppliers all the time about the scarcity of certain fresh produce items due to poor harvests. The high price of tomatoes is quite likely a matter of reduced supply.

sw

[varelse]

10. Possibly this

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2009/12/lettuce_prices.html

[votingupstart]

11. plant your own.... they taste better anyways

seriously i have no idea why but 3 bucks does sound high

[HereSince1628]

12. Because someone will pay that, I suppose.

I'm astounded that tomatoes are more expensive in Fla than they are mid winter in Wisconsin.
Even sun-dried tomatoes don't work out to $3 each. But, hell, the world of pricing things is a strange place.

[Vinnie From Indy]

14. Navel oranges were going for fifty cents each today

Winter always sucks for fruit here in Indy. The fruit is usually expensive and tasteless. I guess it gives me a reason to rejoice in summer with the farmers markets around here!

[goldcanyonaz]

33 cents a lb here in Arizona for Navel oranges.

[matt819]

46. Fifty cents for a navel orange? Ship them to me

Jumbo navels in my grocery store (New England) - $1.99 each.

[Paper Roses]

15. Never saw a $3.00 tomato but I rejected an Orange that was &1.01.

I needed the zest for a frosting recipe and ran to my local market. Needless to say, my frosting was just plain butter cream.

[Warpy]

16. It's January

and the only people who are producing fresh tomatoes are either across the country, in Mexico, or running heated greenhouses. That all gets ridiculously expensive in terms of energy.

Your best bet is to find a brand of canned whole tomatoes and use those. You'll get used to having no tomato skin between your teeth, honest, and some of them, like Muir Glen, are quite good.

It's crazy to buy some fruits and veggies out of season unless you're sick and have a serious Jones going on.

(sez she as she eats a Central American banana)

[cali]

17. Do not buy tomatoes out of season. Simple as that.

[Cyrano]

23. Reply to #16 & #17. I said this above, but I'll repeat it.

The price in July and August was three dollars for a tomato.

And I have to edit this post. The price has been in the three dollar range in this area for about two years now. Somehow, I suspect that this has little to do with the price of gasoline, or the weather.

Tomato prices are just an example I have been using since it is something that everyone can relate to. Hasn't everyone noticed the drastically increased prices of everything at supermarket checkout counters?

In the old day's, those holding you up used a mask and a gun. Today, all that's needed is a cash register that leaves footprints all the way back to Wall Street.

[SoCalDem]

26. Factory farms & lowpaid migrant workers = BIG BUCKS to the owners

If people want tomatoes, they will either grow them, or pay whatever they cost:(

[malaise]

27. Is that the price for one tomato?

Damn!

[Cyrano]

29. Yes, that's the price for one (medium sized) tomato

[Xipe Totec]

18. Why does a dog lick himself?

Because he can.

Same principle.

Stop paying $3 for tomatoes.

[1]

51. that's absurd, it's because he can't make his paw into a little fist...

either that, or it's because he knows he'll be licking your face in a minute...

[Xipe Totec]

53. Ballsy move n/t

[murielm99]

19. I live in a rural area where lots of tomatoes are grown.

The weather here was cool and wet. That is not the kind of weather that makes for a good tomato crop. Corn and beans were negatively impacted by this weather, too. Many farmers here still have their crops standing in the fields. My husband had to pay a large amount for drying this year, and our profits will be down.

To get back to tomatoes, I had to buy a box of tomatoes for our county Democratic Central Committee's picnic. I always buy from a local grower who sells at all the farmer's markets around here. His produce is superb and organically grown. He warned me that he would have to charge me more, and that the quality would not be as good as in past years. I bought anyway from this honest man. (He did not have good profits this year, either).

If we cannot get good tomatoes in our own gardens or from local growers, retailers are going to have a hard time, too. Prices will rise.

Some of this can be attributed to climate change. The Midwest should not have cool and wet summers. We can't produce good crops that way. The South should not have blizzards and frozen orchards the way they are having them right now. Those prices will rise, too, as we feel the shortages. I think we will see more of this. As climate shifts, food shortages and high prices will result.

[Cyrano]

32. Hi, murielm99. I know that farmers are having a bad time.

But this post was not really about tomatoes. I just used tomatoes as an allegory for the prices we pay for everything these days.

It goes without saying that those who produce everything we eat are barely profiting from their labor. If they could sell directly to consumers, everyone would do well. But there are middlemen, otherwise known as corporations.

It's no secret that our country has been taken over by corporate predators who are bleeding all of us dry.

I don't know how to change it, but change it we must as we have become nothing more than indentured servants to the wealthy and the powerful.

[greennina]

20. Rich white farmers

Duh.

[emsimon33]

21. I just paid $3.00 a lb. for organic, just picked ripe from the field tomatoes

in Arroyo Grande, CA, at the farmer's market. The tomatoes were grown in the field but under a plastic cover to keep them warm.

They were worth the price as they tasted like summer tomatoes.

Move to California. We need more people. Many have moved elsewhere! We especially need good, progressive Democrats!

[RB TexLa]

22. Because people will pay three dollars for them. Same reason gas should cost $4 a gallon.

[JVS]

41. If people are willing to sell it for $2.50, then gas should be $2.50

It cuts both ways, you know.

[dysfunctional press]

24. we grow our own...so they don't.

:shrug:

[Kltpzyxm]

25. I blame the DLC!

[ElmoBlatz]

28. Because enough people are willing to pay $3 for a tomato

Its really not that complicated. If enough people were willing to pay $10 a tomato, they'd be $10 a tomato.

[Bitwit1234]

31. Because the grocery stores and markets CAN CHARGE WHAT THEY WANT.

[Dappleganger]

33. Plant your own and can them for later.

I don't remember buying tomatoes out of season when I was growing up, we always used what we had canned until it was planting season again (and they were coming out of our ears!).

[dionysus]

34. where the hell are you getting charged that much?

[JaneQPublic]

36. I grow my own in summer and do without in other seasons.

Once you get used to home-grown tomatoes, you can't tolerate store-bought tomatoes' flavor -- or lack thereof.

My corner farmers' market sells tomato plants for $1 each. I grow mine in raised beds, although they could just as easily be grown in buckets on apt. balconies.

There's nothing better than stepping outside and collecting a vine-ripened tomato you grew yourself and moments later enjoying it in a salad, on a sandwich, or eaten whole as you would a fresh peach.

[corpseratemedia]

37. from 2008

http://www.foolsandsages.com/2008/10/20/sticky-food-prices/

I guess they're just staying "sticky"...forever.

[LeftyMom]

38. Axial tilt.

[TheCowsCameHome]

39. They will until people stop buying them at that price.

[JVS]

40. Because it's out of season

[Codeine]

42. Where do you live?

In California we pay WAYYY less than that, even out here in the inland desert.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

43. dunno your circumstance but I just roasted a bunch of them

[Cirque du So-What]

44. For $3

that'd better be one tasty motherfucker. Going on past experience, however, I'd expect the shipping crate to have as much flavor as the 'mater.

[glen123098]

45. You can get a whole meal at mcdonalds for that price.

No wonder we have an obesity epidemic.

[Historic NY]

49. coming in from South America

plue import restrictions..tomatoes are sold by the pound.

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/plants/plant_imports/federal_order/downloads/DA-2009-65.pdf

http://www.freshplaza.com/news_detail.asp?id=56441

[Canuckistanian]

50. Our tomatoes don't cost that much

And these days, they all come from the southern states - or Mexico.

Maybe you need a "Vegetable Reimportation" bill.

[EFerrari]

52. Won't work for tomatoes.

:yoiks:

[Nikki Stone1]

55. Maybe because it had to travel half the globe to get to the supermarket

Ain't globalism grand?