Study: Costs surge for growing processing tomatoes By Bob Johnson
for processing tomato growers has gone up by 85% in six years. While Sacramento Valley growers have been able to find water even before this year’s rains, the price to access that water remains elevated. The study noted water costs at $120 per acre-foot. It said growers use a combination of district canal water at $65 per acre-foot and groundwater at a cost of $150 per acre-foot to pump. Aegerter was one of the authors of the study on the sample costs to produce processing tomatoes in the Sacramento Valley and northern delta. She is joined in the work by Patricia Lazicki, UCCE farm advisor for Yolo, Solano and Sacramento counties; Donald Stewart, a staff research associate at the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics; and Gene Miyao, emeritus UCCE farm advisor. Since the cost study was last conducted, growers have also seen a 72% hike in fertil- izer costs, a 66% increase in diesel fuel and a 52% to 63% jump in farm labor expenses, the study noted. Brittney Goodrich, UCCE specialist and assistant professor at UC Davis, said, “Labor costs have increased substantially, partially due to new overtime regulations, and I was surprised at just how much it amounts to.” Goodrich added that labor costs, not
Costs to produce processing toma- toes increased substantially in the past six years, according to a study released in July by researchers at the University of California and UC Cooperative Extension farm advisors. Based on the 2023 cost analysis for growing processing tomatoes in the Sacramento Valley and northern delta, researchers found that growers face surg- ing input costs for expenses such as water, labor, fuel and fertilizer. Rising production expenses translate to costs of close to $6,000 per acre to plant, grow and harvest processing tomatoes, study authors at the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics found. This is a 76% increase from 2017, the last time the UC conducted a cost anal- ysis on farming processing tomatoes. The survey noted that the $6,000 per acre production costs for processing to- matoes include a calculation of more than $1,000 an acre just to establish the plants. Irrigation costs approach $500 an acre, ac- cording to the study, while it costs $1,000 an acre for mechanical harvesting and for custom transplanting. The analysis is based upon a well-man- aged farming operation of 3,500 leased acres using subsurface drip irrigation. For the study, processing tomatoes are
Costs, including for water, labor and fertilizer, have increased for processing tomato growers, according to an analysis by researchers at the University of California. The study said growers could offset the costs this year because they have negotiated a better price with processors.
grown on 1,000 acres, and the remaining 2,500 acres are planted to other rotation- al crops, including alfalfa hay, field corn, safflower, sunflower, vine seed and wheat. The yield of 46 tons per acre is used to re- flect typical yields.
While researchers said multiple factors contribute to the rising costs, nothing has increased more in six years than the price of water used to grow processing tomatoes. Brenna Aegerter, UCCE farm advisor for San Joaquin County, said the cost of water
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