NORTHUMBERLAND — NORTHUMBERLAND — Each of the 101 investors in this year’s Adopt-an-Acre program lost $3 due to a stressed tomato crop caused by blight and heavy amounts of rain.
The shares, on 60 acres of Furmano Foods farms, were sold in the spring at $25 per share.
“I don’t have a good report to share with you,” said Jim Kohl, vice president of agriculture operations at Furmano Foods, to the shareholders on Thursday during the monthly meeting of the Greater Susquehanna Valley Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors the program. “It wasn’t the kind of year we would have hoped for.”
Shareholders received $22 of their investment back, as well as a coupon to purchase one of Furmano’s products next time they shop for groceries.
Nearly 5 inches of rain fell during tomato season, which began in mid-May, Kohl said.
Even before they began to grow, the tomatoes were facing adversity. The number of days it takes for a plant to generate one heat unit, or to see growth, was four days in 2007, seven days in 2008, and a staggering 42 days this year.
Weed growth continued along with the rain, and the nightshade grew faster than the tomatoes, Kohl said.
“You can guess what the results are,” Kohl said before revealing the final numbers. “We had a serious challenge as we went forward.”
Projections on the 60 acres of tomatoes were 31 tons of tomatoes per acre. The yield was only 19.42 tons per acre.
The budgeted revenue was $2,883, but only $1,910 was actually made on the crop. Expenses totaled $2,213.
Less than a mile away, another acre, planted three weeks later, yielded 39 tons of tomatoes. “It’s just a matter of timing,” Kohl said.
Furmano Foods’ tomatoes are grown from transplants from greenhouses in Berwick, Lancaster, Georgia and New Jersey. The company has more than 1,000 acres and contracts with growers throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, for a total of 2,200 acres. Approximately 68,700 tons of tomatoes are sold each year.
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Tomato gamble withers on vine
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