News
As of January, California’s tomato processors reported they have, or will have, contracts for 12.1 million tons (10.97 million metric tonnes) in 2021, which is an increase of 6.1 percent compared to the 2020 contracted tonnage of 11.4 million tons (10.34 million metric tonnes) reported in the August 2020 California Processing Tomato Report.
Processors estimate that the contracted production for 2021 will come from 240,000 acres (97,125 hectares), generating an average yield of 50.4 tons per acre (113 metric tonnes per hectare). The contracted planted acreage forecast is up 2.6 percent compared to the 2020 acreage of 234,000 acres (94,696 hecares) reported under contract in August.
The USDA-NASS Pacific Regional Office surveyed California’s tomato processors for their intended contract acreage and tonnage for the upcoming 2021 season. The data reported by processors was either tonnage with derived acreage, or acreage with derived tonnage.
Last year on a similar date, California’s tomato processors reported they had contracts for 12.0 million short tons (10.89 million metric tonnes) in 2020, which was an increase of 4.3% compared to what was reported under contract in the August 2019 California processing Tomato Report. Processors estimated that the contracted production for 2020 would come from 235,000 acres (95,100 hectares), generating an average yield of 51.1 shorts tons per acre (114.5 mT/ha). For the 2020 season, the contracted planted acreage forecast was unchanged from the 2019 acreage reported under contract in August.
The quantities processed in California in 2020 amounted to 11.3 millions short tons (10,26 million metric tonnes).
Full NASS report:
