Tomatoes are the most widely grown fruiting greenhouse crop. The types of tomatoes produced vary from the beefsteak or slicer types to the smaller-fruited grape and cherry types. Regardless of which kind you are growing, they can all suffer from cluster kinking (Fig. 1), snapping, or in extreme circumstances, ripping (Fig. 2). When mild kinking occurs, fruits and clusters may develop into marketable products. However, when kinking is severe, or when the tissue snaps or rips and severs the vascular tissue that conducts water, nutrients and carbohydrates, fruits may not develop into the high quality that’s expected from greenhouse-grown tomatoes.

There are different factors that can cause this. First, some varieties have a weaker pedicle (flower and fruit stem) than other varieties. It can also be influenced by the greenhouse environment. When a crop is grown in a warm environment, it steers the plant toward a more vegetative state. This doesn’t mean the plant will stop flowering, but the vegetative and generative (reproductive) stages of fruiting vine crops elicit different growth habits. When a tomato is in a more vegetative state, the pedicle of the flower cluster is more upright. As a result, that vertical habit of the pedicle carries out through fruiting. Low light intensity can also result in more kinking or snapping as well. Tissue grown under low light is softer and weaker than under higher light and, under the weight of fruit, can bend or snap more easily.

There are a few ways to try and avoid this problem. First, if the disorder was the result of an environment that is favorable to causing it, try to change the growing environment. For instance, if you have supra-optimal air temperatures or low light, try to cool your greenhouse or increase lighting.

However, some factors can’t be controlled. If you are already using all cooling stages in the summer, it is going to be a challenge to drop temperatures. Similarly, if you are suffering from low light in the winter, but do not have supplemental lights you can use to provide more light to your crop, there is nothing you can do to prevent weak stems.

If you have modified the greenhouse environment and culture, but still find this disorder occurring, using a support for your fruiting clusters is the best way to minimize losses from cluster kinking or ripping. While this will require additional labor inputs, in addition to the costs of the clips and supports themselves, it is the last option you have. There are a few different styles you can use. One type of clip, the arch support, is placed on the pedicle when the flower cluster is blooming and, as the fruits form and the cluster bears more weight on the stem, an arch is formed and supported by the clip, supporting the fruits. Another type of support, the “J hook,” attaches directly to the vine twine or trellis and then the pedicle is placed in a hook. For both supports, as the cluster gets heavier, they will stop kinks from forming.

When kinking is severe, or worse, when the tissue snaps or rips, and severs the vascular tissue that conducts water, nutrients and carbohydrates, fruits may not develop into the high quality that’s expected from greenhouse-grown tomatoes.

Reducing losses from kinked clusters should be a goal for every tomato grower. As the low-light time of year is approaching, consider how you can modify the greenhouse environment or culture to avoid tomato cluster kinking. Alternatively, consider using supports to ensure all your cluster-type tomatoes will develop into healthy and attractive salable products.

The author is an assistant professor in the Department of Horticulture at Iowa State University. ccurrey@iastate.edu

Photo: vit | Adobe Stock

Proposed hours of service rule changes published

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published a notice of proposed rule-making on changes to hours-of-service (HOS) rules by updating existing regulations for commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers.

“FMCSA wants drivers and all CMV stakeholders to share their thoughts and opinions on the proposed changes to hours of service rules that we are putting forward today. We listened directly to the concerns of drivers for rules that are safer and have more flexibility — and we have acted. We encourage everyone to review and comment on this proposal,” said FMCSA Administrator Raymond P. Martinez in a statement.

To read the full story, click here.

Photo © Caleb Jones

Atlanta suburb working with organizations, government to build up urban agriculture

Atlanta nonprofit Food Well Alliance is a collaborative network of local food leaders heading up a new program it believes will be a game-changer for urban agriculture in cities across metro Atlanta. According to a press release, the City Agriculture Plan will do exactly what its name says: bring growers, community leaders and city officials together — guided by the planning expertise of the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) — to develop city-wide plans that prioritize urban agriculture. The end goal is thriving community gardens and urban farms providing greater access to locally grown food across the metro Atlanta region, which translates to healthier people, environments and communities.

To ready the full story, click here.

Photo courtesy of Mucci Farms

Mucci Farms acquires controlling interest in Orangeline Farms

Mucci Farms has announced that it has acquired controlling interest of Leamington, Ontario-based Orangeline Farms, including its existing greenhouse and warehouse facilities, and additional land with plans for expansion. Subsequently, the company also announced additional expansion plans in Canada and the United States.

“It’s an exciting time for the company as we continue our aggressive expansion plans to increase our local and regional production,” says Mucci CEO Bert Mucci. “The Orangeline acquisition comes with a 32-acre greenhouse and a warehouse with additional land totaling 100 acres. Consumers are demanding more local production, and we’re listening.”

To read the full story, click here.

Know your customer. It’s one of the most basic tenets of business, but it’s one that can often be hard to track — especially if you don’t get face time with the people you sell to on a regular basis.

But growers are making the time and effort to truly collaborate with their customers and cater their produce to their exact specifications. Ryan Pierce, owner of Fresh Impact Farms, is doing just that by talking to each and every chef he delivers to.

Pierce thrives on feedback, and is innovating the growing process to create high-quality, hyperlocal food in a small, 1,000-square foot operation. He has a direct line to restaurants all over the Washington, D.C. area, creating the exact flavor, texture and color his customers want.

That kind of attention to detail and customer service may very well take him to new levels (and lots of new flavor profiles.) Pierce is breaking the mold, and chefs are loving it. You can read more about the chef-grower relationship in this month’s cover story.

Trends vary throughout the U.S. and Canada, and what might be in high demand for a greenhouse in Kansas, might not be popular in New York. It all depends on your unique customers. So while nationwide trends are always good to keep an eye on, it all comes down to your area.

Sales numbers can always tell you what’s working and what’s not, they can’t tell you about opportunities to grow and tweak your offerings to be even more successful. There could be a niche you haven’t thought of or a plant customers are looking for but can’t find, and you’ll never know until you ask.

Feedback, while not always easy to gather or process, is key to improving any business’ operations and outputs. Whether you’re talking to customers in a retail setting, at a delivery, on the phone, through a mailer or in an email, leave the lines of communication open. And while customers will likely tell you when you’re doing something wrong, they might not always be telling you when you’re doing something right, or when you could be doing something new.

However you choose to gather feedback, don’t let it go to waste. At the end of the season, use it strategically to plan for the coming year. And don’t forget to let your customers know that you appreciate their comments (both positive and negative) to keep the feedback coming. If your customers feel that they’re being heard, that’s a win of its own.

Everyone wants to make a first great impression, and that’s no different for professional chefs. They typically get one opportunity to make that great impression with a customer who sits down to dine with them. Otherwise, that diner may never come back. Freshness, flavor and appearance from the first bite is crucial to the success of any chef-driven restaurant.

With produce taking center stage for more and more restaurants and high-end chefs, the produce they offer needs to be fresh, flavorful and locally sourced. If you haven’t yet forged great partnerships with local chefs in your area, now’s a great time to start.

Tough market

If you’re not familiar with the restaurant scene in Dallas, where I live and do my eating out, let’s just say it’s serious business. We all eat out a lot here, but the restaurant industry is known to be quite carnivorous. A multitude of new restaurants pop up daily, only to be chewed up and spit out before you can finish a first read of their menu. To survive and thrive here as a serial-success chef, you must be a smart chef with great relationships — and know how to source great produce.

I wanted to get some personal insight directly from a chef’s perspective. Luckily, I have a friend who happens to be one of Dallas’ best-known restaurateurs and executive chefs. Jeana Johnson currently anchors CANVAS, a new up-and-coming restaurant and bar in Dallas, but has owned and launched several other prominent restaurant ventures here in Big D. I texted her and begged her to answer some questions about what she really wants, and needs, from her local produce farmers.

What’s new?

When it comes to current trends, Johnson tells me that she — and other chefs — are using all parts of a plant in different applications on a dish. “So, a shaved fennel salad would be uniquely garnished with the fronds [leaves] and some quick pickled stem,” she says. A root to shoot experience if you will.

She says that using heirloom varietals is also a trend that has been popular for a while but is sustaining. Johnson also sees an uptick in use of hybrid vegetables such as Caulilini. “Anything new you can bring to the plate that is interesting to the eye and new to the customer is easy to use as a wow factor in presentation,” she says.

Too hard to find?

When it comes to finding the right growers with which to partner, Johnson says it’s all about knowing where to look. When I asked her if she had regular troubles finding the right produce, she told me, “There really isn’t much that, if you are cooking seasonally and regionally, you can’t source locally.” The message there is, the locally available produce — by season — is what is driving what local diners find on their plates. That means you as the grower are in charge when it comes to what chefs are working with in their kitchens. Ultimately you are driving the food trends. However, if a chef must know where to look, as Johnson says, that might mean you’re making yourself too hard to find.

As a wholesale produce grower, you might not think that public marketing is necessary, or your responsibility. Not so. We all share the same end consumer. Elevating your brand awareness, both to the end consumer and the local food community, is a must for building your brand reputation and commercial sales. The easier you are to find and relate to, the better your commercial relationships will be.

Johnson offers a key piece of strategic advice for small growers: band together with other small local farmers so you have backup sources for your orders.

Grow to scale

From Johnson’s perspective, challenges working with local growers often come down to a matter of scale. She finds that small local growers often can’t support the volume needs of a larger production. These volume limitations do cause her to pause, she says, when deciding to list and name a specialty product on a menu — or not. “For example,” Johnson says, “if I was buying a baby lettuce mix from a large-scale produce company, I wouldn’t necessarily be able to call the farm out by name. But I could count on them being able to source the product at all times from a large bank of sources.”

Risky business

Johnson also points out other challenges of highlighting specific farmers and their produce on her menus. “If something happened at the farm (they lose a greenhouse to weather) or they simply cannot grow as much as I need, I now have an entire dish that cannot be produced with a named product,” Johnson says. Her choice often comes down to going against her ethics of using locally sourced produce to using large-scale production for peace of mind — or not offering specific produce at all. Neither are good options in Johnson’s opinion.

On this point, Johnson offers a key piece of strategic advice for small growers: band together with other small local farmers so you have backup sources for your orders. Johnson insists that good farm-to-farm relationships are key to success. “If I had the surety that my farmer had a great relationship with a fellow farmer, should he/she not be able to provide sufficient product, it would make it much easier to use their [named] product” she says.

So, it’s not just your farm-to-chef relationship that matters, but also your grower-to-grower community.

Building great long-term relationships with local chefs does mean making the effort to cater to and customize their needs, when you can. Johnson recommends asking your chefs what they really like and want to buy. “Inventive chefs are typically ahead of the curve on what they would like to see,” she says. Consider doing special grows of specific seasonal product for your valued chef partners.

The key to success for any business often comes down to networking and cross industry partnerships. As food markets continue to hyper-localize, getting to know great chefs in your area may be key to your future growth.