Information Sourced from the USDA
As of May 15, California’s tomato processors reported they have or will have contracts for 12.7 million tons of processing tomatoes for 2023. This production estimate is 2.4% higher than the January intentions forecast of 12.4 million tons and 21.4% above the final 2022 contracted production total.
The May contracted acreage of 254,000 is 2.4% above the January intentions forecast of 248,000 acres and 24,000 acres more than last year’s final contracted acreage.
Fresno County remains the top California county in contracted planted acreage for 2023 with 62,300 acres. Yolo, Merced, San Joaquin, and Kings make up the remaining top five counties, accounting for 63.8% percent of the 2023 total contracted planted acreage for
California.
After three years of drought conditions, heavy winter storms brought an unprecedented amount of rain to the state, flooding areas in the Central Valley. Fields were wet and muddy well into spring, preventing farmers from planting on schedule. Transplanting continued
through May and temperatures remained cooler than normal, resulting in a lag in crop maturity.
There is concern that harvest will not be staggered enough for a balanced flow of tomatoes to the canneries. Despite the setbacks, the availability of water and another increase in price agreements have encouraged producers to contract the highest number of planted acres since 2016.
This early processing tomato estimate is funded by the California League of Food Producers.
