Production
The first stop in our food system is production! This is where all of our food begins. This usually happens on the farm but there are lots of other examples where food production happens such as greenhouses. Without this step in our food system, we simply have no food to get to anybody and it's one of the most important parts.
Check out the video below and see an entire greenhouse tomato harvest in under two minutes!
Greenhouse tomatoes
Available in
February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December
Greenhouse techniques
A greenhouse is designed to control most of the environment surrounding the plants. Computer controlled variables include the temperature, moisture level, nutrient elements. Optimization of these variables enhances productivity, flavor and quality.
Most growers use hydroponics: the growing of plants in media such as rockwool using nutrient solutions. Rockwool, an inert growing medium with excellent water-holding capacity, eliminates the need for soil sterilization, helps produce better quality crops with reduced energy for a longer harvesting period, and provides a cleaner working environment.
Another hydroponic growing technique is the Nutrient Film Technique: a water-culture system based on circulating a shallow film of nutrient solution over the roots of plants to provide water, nutrients and oxygen.
All Ontario greenhouse tomato growers use "beneficial insects" instead of pesticides for pest management. The concept is simple: good bugs eat bad bugs. Strips of yellow sticky paper are set out to catch and count the pests, and predators or parasites are released accordingly. It is a virtually pesticide free way of keeping crops healthy. Bumble bees are used to pollinate tomato flowers resulting in improved fruit quality and labour efficiency.
Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers VR 360 Experience! Make sure to look around!
Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable growers presents our Virtual Reality 360 experience! Fly over our greenhouses, cruise down rows of tomato plants, and watch how Ontario's fresh flavourful greenhouse produce makes it from our farms to your plate! All in high definition VR!
*If on mobile we recommend watching the video here on youtube
Field tomatoes
Available in
July | August | September | October
Varieties
There are more than 300 different varieties of tomatoes commercially grown in Ontario. To make it easier, those 300 can be grouped into the following categories:
Round (slicing/table): Medium-sized, globe-shaped. Ideal for eating raw.
Roma or Plum: Plum-shaped and thick-fleshed. Smaller and less juicy than the Round variety. Excellent for preserving, sauces, or making paste.
Beefsteak: Similar to Round tomatoes but flatter with fleshier walls and not as juicy. Excellent for both cooking and eating raw. Size varies from small to large.
Popular Ontario field tomato varieties include Sunrise, Pik Rite, Mountain Pride, Pilgrim, Red Star and Ultra-sweet.
Ontario processing tomatoes
Ontario processing tomatoes are primarily grown in the field, whereas tomatoes destined for fresh markets are grown within one of the many greenhouses here in Ontario. 100% of the tomatoes grown in Canada for processing are produced in Ontario. The main growing area in Southwestern Ontario is Kent and Essex Counties where a unique combination of climate and soil has created an area ideally suited to the production of processing tomatoes.
Processing tomatoes are grown for three end uses: paste, whole peel, or juice. Paste will go on to be further processed into ketchup and sauces or will be canned along with whole peel products and juice. All tomatoes are processed less then 24 hours after harvest to ensure the product is as fresh as possible. There are approximately 6 processing plants in the region to allow for this quick delivery and processing. Neighbors in certain areas will coordinate planting and harvest with each other to be able to share transport resources and ensure all products make it to the factory. Additionally, growers are regulated on when they can deliver products, ensuring there is never any waste due to an influx in delivery.
60% of tomatoes are made into tomato paste, manufactured during harvest season, and reprocessed internally to manufacture ketchup, soups, and sauces.
20% made into whole peeled tomatoes.
20% made into juice from fresh tomatoes.
A processing tomato is slightly different then what you find at the grocery store. Processing tomatoes are bred to have thicker cell walls and a bright red color. This provides multiple benefits to the grower and the product quality. Firstly, the thicker cell walls allow the tomato to handle the riggers of a mechanical harvest, meaning farmers and workers do not need to hand pick the product. Secondly, the tomatoes are bred to produce the desired viscosity and thickness for products such as ketchup. Lastly, the color allows for products to have its characteristic tomato red color that we all love.
Due to their delicate nature and the shorter growing season in Ontario, tomatoes aren’t planted directly in the field, rather seedlings (transplants) are grown in a greenhouse and then transferred to the field through automatic or semi-automatic transplanter machines. Ontario’s greenhouses supply all the required seedlings for processing tomato growers. The Ontario industry utilizes 100% transplants for planting. There are close to 9 acres of greenhouses used for transplants producing approximately 125 million tomato seedlings for Ontario growers.
Once tomatoes reach the processing plant they are graded, assessed for value, weighed, and then unloaded to be taken into the factory. The majority of these tomatoes will be ripe since processing tomatoes have been bred to ripen at the same time. Unripe green tomatoes are sorted and left on the field to fertilize the soil or left in to help create a thicker, more desirable paste.
History
Tomatoes were discovered by early explorers in the 16th century in what is now known as Peru, and wild tomato plants can still be found growing in the Andes.
Around 1870, the first cannery in Ontario was established with processing tomatoes being made into soups and other items.
An important development in Canadian tomato farming in the 1900’s was developing a type of tomato that could be mechanically harvested. As technology and machinery advanced, scientists worked to ensure that tomatoes destined for processing followed. This improvement came from agriculture research and brought large improvements over slow hand-picking. It is estimated that approximately 2,000 field workers would have been needed to harvest growers’ crops; in the 1990’s, harvesting the same volume mechanically needed only about 450 workers.
Nutrition & Health
Lycopene and its Benefits
Lycopene gives more than just incredible colour to juicy tomatoes; it is also considered one of the world's most powerful antioxidants and contains disease-fighting properties thought to reduce the risk of prostate and other cancers. This hearty antioxidant may help reduce your risk of developing cardiovascular disease by reducing LDL ("bad") cholesterol and lowering blood pressure.
Lycopene, the disease-fighting power in red tomatoes, is mostly found just below the skin, but often ends up in the waste bins of processing plants. Tomato scientists at the Guelph Research and Development Centre are looking at ways to extract lycopene from the tomato processing waste (tomato skin) using innovative separation technology. The extracted lycopene is then used to develop health-promoting products for both the food industry and consumers - meaning exciting potential for a high value food product once deemed as waste. (Source: Agriculture and Agri-food Canada)
For more agri-food programs, resources, and education, connect with the following organizations to learn more!
