Tomatoland

How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit

by Barry Estabrook
Price: $15.99
ISBN-13: 9781449423452
ISBN-10: 1449423450
Format: Paperback
Size: 5.5 x 8.5 in.
Page Count: 256 pages

Tomatoland

How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit

by Barry Estabrook

2012 IACP Award Finalist

Price: $19.99
ISBN-13: 9781449401092
ISBN-10: 1449401090
Format: Hardcover
Size: 6 x 9 in.
Page Count: 240 pages

“The pleasures of Tomatoland are real. They’re strong but subtle and sustained. Mr. Estabrook’s prose contains a mix of sweetness and acid, like a perfect homegrown tomato itself.”
—Dwight Garner, The New York Times

“If you care about social justice—or eat tomatoes—read this account of the past, present, and future of a ubiquitous fruit.”
—Corby Kummer, TheAtlantic.com

“Tomatoland (is) in the tradition of the best muckraking journalism, from Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle to Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation.”
— Jane Black, The Washington Post

“Masterful.”
—Mark Bittman, New York Times Opinion blog

“Eye-opening exposé . . . thought-provoking.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Estabrook adds some new dimensions to the outrageous . . . story of an industry that touches nearly every one of us living in fast-food nation.”
—David Von Drehle, Time magazine blog Swampland

“Tomatoland makes you second-guess your food choices. That Florida red tomato you’re eating? Yeah, it’s probably gassed to make it that red color, and it also may have been picked by slaves. Not so tasty, eh?”
—Carey Polis, The Huffington Post

“Read award-winning journalist Barry Estabrook’s Tomatoland, and you won’t look at a tomato in the same way again . . . Estabrook presents a cogent case for reform, challenging everyone to stand up for what is good not only for the taste buds and the wallet, but also for the soul.”
—Epicurious.com

“This is the sort of book you want—need—to finish in one or two servings as it will forever change the way you look at the $6 burger.”
—LA Weekly

“Tomatoland has a moral force that I won’t soon forget. Estabrook makes it clear that the choice we make between a plastic-tasting supermarket tomato and fragrant organic farmer’s market tomato . . . says everything about our humanity, and our conception of America as a nation.”
—Michele Owens, Kirkus Book Reviews

“In the tradition of Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser, Estabrook gives us the darker side of the fruit we so love. Readers who may not have been turned off the winter version of our collectively favorite fruit will certainly find reason here to pause before making a selection at the supermarket. Choose well, Estabrook reminds us.”
—ForeWord Reviews

“Our favorite fruit may not be quite as innocuous and delicious as it appears.”
—Salon.com

“Vital information that every conscientious eater—and parents of eaters—ought to know.”
—CivilEats.com

“A must read for everyone who eats. I don’t care if you are in the commodity cattle business or feed your own family with a small garden. I don’t care if you are a policy maker, extension professional, molecular biologist, industrial mogul, minister, teacher, or what have you. Tomatoland illustrates how fundamentally bankrupt our current commodity-based, industrial food systems have become and offers a glimmer of hope for a food future that’s healthful for all involved. Read it and try not to weep.”
—Grit Magazine

“Put Tomatoland on your reading menu. It will surprise and perhaps enrage you, but its final flavor is hopeful.”
—St. Petersburg Times

“The buzz about Tomatoland, a scathing indictment of South Florida’s tomato industry, keeps growing.”
—The Oregonian

“You can really stop at any point during the narrative and decide that you’ve bought your last supermarket tomato, but Estabrook is just warming up . . . a brisk read, engrossing as it is enraging.” —TheDailyGreen.com

ROOTS
Author Barry Estabrook follows the path of a small, wild, nearly inedible berry native to the harsh coastal deserts of Ecuador, Peru, and Chile as it migrates to what is now Mexico, then to Europe, and eventually to the United States, where it is now our second-most-popular produce item.

A TOMATO GROWS IN FLORIDA
With its high levels of humidity, voracious insects, and nutrient-deficient soil, Florida is one of the worst places you could choose to grow tomatoes commercially. Yet the state grows 90 percent of the tomatoes sold in the United States at certain times of year. How do growers do it? With tons of pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers—and a high environmental and human cost.

CHEMICAL WARFARE
During a two-month period in the agricultural town of Immokalee, FL, three horribly disfigured babies were born. Their mothers were neighbors who toiled in the same tomato field where they were often sprayed with chemicals when they were pregnant. While looking at the broader picture of the misuse of agricultural chemicals in Florida, this chapter tells the story of the lawyer who battled one of the country’s largest agricultural companies in an attempt to bring justice to one of those babies.

FROM THE HANDS OF A SLAVE
If you have ever eaten a tomato during the winter months, you have eaten a fruit picked by a slave. That is not hyperbole. Human trafficking is all too common in Florida.

AN UNFAIR FIGHT
Even under the best circumstances, Florida tomato workers are subject to the worst labor abuses in the country. Paid strictly for the amount they harvest and denied all benefits, union protection, and overtime, they are lucky to earn the minimum wage. A grassroots group battles the huge tomato growers and their fast-food and institutional customers to secure a one-penny-per pound raise for pickers—enough to lift them out of poverty.

A PENNY PER POUND
When grower Joe Procacci developed a tomato that could withstand the rigors of being grown, packed, and shipped commercially but still deliver taste, the Florida Tomato Committee, a cartel-like organization that has Orwellian powers over tomato production in the state, forbade him to sell it. And when two tomato producers offered to pay their workers one penny more per pound for the tomatoes, the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange threatened them with fines.

MATTERS OF TASTE
Two plant breeders at the University of Florida have spent their careers attempting to develop tomatoes that can be grown cheaply under commercial conditions and conform to the strict size and shape requirements of the exchange. If they succeed, we all will be able to enjoy what is now an oxymoron: a good-tasting supermarket tomato.

BUILDING A BETTER TOMATO
Some dedicated individuals have struggled for decades to improve Florida’s tomato industry. They include a workers’ group that is slowly winning improved labor conditions, an organic grower who proved that tomatoes in Florida need not be bathed in a witch’s brew of chemicals, a developer who has built clean and affordable housing for thousands of migrants, and a teacher who built a statewide network of early childhood education centers for workers’ children.

TOMATOMAN
Tim Stark admits that he is half crazed, but by turning the logic of industrial agriculture on its head, the Pennsylvania farmer grows tomatoes for the finest chefs in New York and provides a decent living for his family and his workers.

WILD THINGS
With approximate geographic coordinates from Roger Chetelat, a tomato geneticist at the University of California, the author ventures across barren Peruvian deserts in search of the wild relatives of the tomato. Returning to the source imparts lessons that the modern tomato industry should heed.

AFTERWORD (new)
Estabrook goes to “Tomato School” with a crew of harvesters at a large Florida producer to learn about their rights and responsibilities under the Fair Food Agreement, signed by the Florida tomato growers and the Coalition of Immokalee workers in late 2010. The agreement represents a sea-change: Time clocks now keep exact track of hours worked, there is zero tolerance for human trafficking and sexual abuse, and workers are trained in health and safety measures. Unfortunately, the supermarket chains refuse to participate. The coalition has now taken its campaign to the nation’s largest grocery retailers.

The story ends with Tomatoland, a hard look at today’s agribusiness systems, which produce industrial tomatoes as lacking in nutrition as they are flavor. Of all the fruits and vegetables we eat, none suffers at the hand of factory farming more than a tomato grown in the winter fields of Florida, which accounts for one-third of the fresh tomatoes grown in the United States. Modern agribusiness can’t deliver a decent-tasting tomato in large part because it’s essentially against the law; regulations set by the Florida Tomato Committee determine what a tomato should look like, and the older, tasty varieties don’t conform to the rules of color and shape.

As Barry explains in this fact-filled yet approachable book, consumers and society pay a price when we take taste and thought out of our food purchases:

• The tomato got its start in the arid climates of South America, making Florida’s humid weather possibly the worst place for tomato growing. This results in heavy use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides.
• The underpaid workers in Florida’s tomato fields are exposed to chemicals daily, with a toll including cancers, respiratory ailments, and severe birth defects among newborns. That’s not all—one assistant U.S. attorney referred to Florida’s tomato fields as “ground zero for modern-day slavery,” complete with beatings and being “sold” to crew bosses to pay debts.
• A tomato today contains less vitamin C, thiamin, niacin, and calcium and 14 times as much sodium as its 1960s counterpart.

There’s no doubt Americans, or anyone who longs for the flavor and texture of a truly home-grown tomato, will want to hear the messages of Tomatoland. Tomatoes are our second-most popular produce behind lettuce, with Americans buying $5 billion worth of commercially grown fresh tomatoes in 2009. And nearly nine out of 10 backyard gardens include tomatoes.

After reading Tomatoland, we should never look at a tomato the same way again, or settle for inferior produce.

“As the title suggests, a whimsical history of the tomato, this is not. He dispenses with the interesting anecdotes … in the first chapter, and then gets on to his real story, which is about how badly we treat the environment, and especially the workers, needed to grow off-season winter tomatoes in Florida.” ––The Daily Green http://bit.ly/pfJYGL

“Never eat a tomato from Florida. And to be safe, never eat a tomato in the wintertime. This excellent advice from Barry Estabrook, in his new book “Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed our Most Alluring Fruit,” is based on his investigation into where tomatoes originated (the high deserts of South America), and the damage to our food supply wrought by the Florida Tomato Committee wielding absolute power over the size, shape, and degree of ripeness of every tomato that leaves Florida. Taste is not a consideration.” ––Daily Herald http://bit.ly/rmV92r

“If you are looking for a feel-good book, Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit by Barry Estabrook isn’t it. In fact, if you aren’t prepared to be deeply disturbed, upset, angry, and disgusted, I don’t recommend reading this book at all. If, however, you are prepared to take the red pill, go down the rabbit hole, and wake up to some realities of the world, read Tomatoland. Read it now.” ––Blog Critics http://bit.ly/nVVd8n

“To Estabrook, the way we raise our tomatoes—and the way we eat them—shows our real food priorities. Constant availability—regardless of seasonality—matters more than taste or nutrition or the environment or labor rights. That’s life in Tomatoland. His book is well worth checking out.” ––Time http://ti.me/oKD6id

“Estabrook’s conclusion: “Florida’s tomato fields provide a stark example of what a food system looks like when all elements of sustainability are violated.” My conclusion: No more Florida tomatoes for me.” ––Greenbizz.com http://bit.ly/q2ZS7B

“The produce section in your local supermarket bulges, even in February, with a year-round supply of perfectly round, bright red-orange tomatoes. They almost seem like our birthright as Americans. But in a new book Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit, investigative food journalist Barry Estabrook reveals the huge human and environmental cost of the $5 billion fresh tomato industry. ” ––National Catholic Reporter http://bit.ly/pcYP08

“Estabrook is the author of a new book, Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit. It lays out why supermarket tomatoes tend to taste so bad — and how they got that way.” ––NPR http://n.pr/n1TKGE

“It’s insane that tomatoes are grown [in Florida] at all, Barry Estabrook writes in his delectable and angry new book, Tomatoland. This volume simmers like a big, bright kettle of heirloom tomato sauce.” –The Chronicle Herald http://bit.ly/oZRkk0

“In Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit, author Barry Estabrook makes sense of our contemporary tomato culture and reveals a less than sustainable, less than desirable, and less than delicious product that is fueled by our unyielding desire for tomato-like objects year round.” ––Care2 http://bit.ly/oVzPmK

“”Tomatoland” is a book that will raise the ire of people who stand on the opposite sides of many social and economic issues. Barry Estabrook’s book examines why tomatoes found in grocery store produce aisles and in restaurants look so good but taste so blah. The book focuses on Florida’s tomato industry, which is where about a third of the nation’s winter tomatoes come from.” ––South Bend Tribune http://bit.ly/rf4IxB

“Tomatoland is this year’s irresistibly juicy page turner.” ––Cook for Good http://bit.ly/qwEWe0

“Estabrook knows this topic extremely well, and is a great writer. Tomatoland is a quick read, but engaging and informative. I appreciated that he engaged in discussions of how and why tomatoes have become the vegetable we scorn in the grocery store, rather than just elaborating on or dramatizing the plight of tomato pickers. I’d recommend this book to anyone wanting to know more about large-scale tomato agriculture and its consequences on individuals and our food system as a whole.” ––Serious Eats http://bit.ly/qCkpgr

“Barry Estabrook “is a careful John McPhee-like observer” and that “the pleasures of ‘Tomatoland’ are real. They’re strong but subtle and sustained. Mr. Estabrook’s prose contains a mix of sweetness and acid, like a perfect homegrown tomato itself.”” ––The New York Times http://nyti.ms/qBvgxz

“In his new book, “Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit“, investigative journalist Barry Estabrook looks inside the Sunshine State’s tomato-growing industry. What he finds proves anything but appetizing.” ––Express Night Out http://bit.ly/mvm1Uv

“Estabrook, a freelance food writer whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times and The Washington Post, looks at the life of today’s mass-produced tomato — and the environmental and human costs of the tomato industry — in his book Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit. The book was based on a James Beard award-winning article which originally appeared in Gourmet Magazine, where Estabrook was a contributing editor before publication ceased in 2009.” ––NPR http://n.pr/imxpWZ

“”Tomatoland” by Barry Estabrook provides the answers to what’s wrong with the tomatoes served in our restaurants and sold in our stores for most of the year. He explains how most of the “fresh” tomatoes on those burgers, chicken sandwiches, etc., come from a Florida industry that cares nothing about taste and everything about cheap production, including the tolerance of modern forms of slavery. … Anyone with a taste for tomatoes should read “Tomatoland.” It is a powerful argument to eat locally, eat seasonally. ” ––Fredricksburg.com http://bit.ly/kZpcID

“Supermarket produce sections bulging with a year-round supply of perfectly round, bright red-orange tomatoes have become all but a national birthright. But in Tomatoland, which is based on his James Beard Award-winning article, “The Price of Tomatoes,” investigative food journalist Barry Estabrook reveals the huge human and environmental cost of the $5 billion fresh tomato industry.” ––Good Food World http://bit.ly/ixmnLw

“Mass-produced tomatoes have become redder, more tender and slightly more flavorful than the crunchy orange “cello-wrapped” specimens of a couple of decades ago, but the lives of the workers who grow and pick them haven’t improved much since Edward R. Murrow’s revealing and deservedly famous Harvest of Shame report of 1960, which contained the infamous quote, “We used to own our slaves; now we just rent them.” But bit by bit things have improved some, a story that’s told in detail and with insight and compassion by Barry Estabrook in his new book, “Tomatoland.” We can actually help them improve further. ” ––Mark Bittman, The New York Times Opinionator blog http://nyti.ms/mOlvn3

“I can’t say enough good things about Barry Estabrook’s new book Tomatoland. In his gentle, evocative prose, Estabrook tells the brutal story of what industrial agriculture has done to tomatoes and the workers who grow them.” ––Mother Jones http://bit.ly/k2tyZ2

“In his eye-opening new book, award-winning food journalist Barry Estabrook reveals the shocking truth about the modern tomato industry. In a gripping story of modern-day slavery, dangerous pesticides, and old-fashioned greed, Estabrook shows that the bland taste of most supermarket tomatoes is the least of their problems.” ––Take Part http://bit.ly/lL8iL6

“Tomatoland is Barry Estabrook’s expose of what’s wrong with the Tomato industry. Not least is the fact that illegal immigrants are working and living in slavery-like conditions.” ––New York Post http://nyp.st/lZzCbS

“Tomatoland made me ashamed that these crimes could take place in our country, and that so many of us benefit from them by eating cheap tomatoes year-round. Not that you could really call it a benefit, given how lousy those tomatoes actually taste. This book was written a full 50 years AFTER the documentary Harvest of Shame I alluded to before, and yet, little has changed since then. The biggest change in those 50 years is probably the skin color and the native language of the workers who are being exploited. I congratulate Estabrook on his incredible work, and I hope that this book is instrumental in changing things so that another similar story does not have to be told 50 years from now.” ––La Vida Locavor http://bit.ly/jatQxa

“ ‘Tomatoland’ (is) in the tradition of the best muckraking journalism, from Upton Sinclair’s ‘The Jungle’ to Eric Schlosser’s ‘Fast Food Nation.’ “ —Jane Black, The Washington Post

“Masterful.” —Mark Bittman, New York Times Opinion blog

“If you care about social justice—or eat tomatoes—read this account of the past, present, and future of a ubiquitous fruit.” —Corby Kummer, TheAtlantic.com

“Eye-opening exposé…thought-provoking.” —Publishers Weekly

“Estabrook adds some new dimensions to the outrageous…story of an industry that touches nearly every one of us living in fast-food nation.” —David Von Drehle, Time Magazine blog “Swampland”

“Our favorite fruit may not be quite as innocuous and delicious as it appears.” —Salon.com

“Vital information that every conscientious eater—and parents of eaters—ought to know.” —CivilEats.com

“Estabrook’s exposure of the resulting environmental and human tragedies places “Tomatoland” in the tradition of the best muckraking journalism, from Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” to Eric Schlosser’s “Fast Food Nation.”” ––The Washington Post http://wapo.st/mKyKhT

“Building on an award-winning article in the late, lamented Gourmet magazine, Estabrook adds some new dimensions to the outrageous, yet stubbornly persistent, story of an industry that touches nearly every one of us living in fast-food nation.” ––Time Swampland http://ti.me/js7Ihv

“Read award-winning journalist Barry Estabrook’s Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit, and you won’t look at a tomato in the same way again. What began as an exposé on the slave-like working conditions faced by modern-day tomato workers (”The Price of Tomatoes,” Gourmet, March 2009) is now a book that paints a shocking behind-the-scenes picture of one of the most beloved fruits. The issues that Estabrook writes about in the book (as well as on his website politicsoftheplate.com) cannot be ignored by anyone who thinks of him/herself as a conscientious and informed consumer. In Tomatoland, Estabrook presents a cogent case for reform, challenging everyone to stand up for what is good not only for the taste buds and the wallet, but also for the soul.” –– Epicurious http://epi.us/lmUTUm

“In the new book, Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit, journalist Barry Estabrook traces the history of the tomato and discusses the ecological and human costs of bringing it to your table.” ––Miami New Times http://bit.ly/j3c5pY

“If you care about social justice—or eat tomatoes—read this account of the past, present, and future of a ubiquitous fruit … But it’s not just the picture of social justice and labor conditions that make Tomatoland such an important and readable book. It’s also the history of the tomato itself—how it got here from Peru, how it was bred to be the cotton softball (hardball, really) we know—and the future of the fruit that kept me racing through the galleys. For Barry gives hope at the end, for tomatoes you can feel good about buying and eating, and finds researchers who developed them and farmers who are already growing them commercially. Buy it, please!” ––The Atlantic http://bit.ly/kfCorb

“In his new book “Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit,” journalist Barry Eastabrook writes the biography of the modern tomato, revealing the environmental and human costs of big agribusiness. Eastabrook traces the history of the tomato from the wild tomato berries that once grew in abundance in the rocky foothills of the Andes to the most familiar salad staple on the planet. A true tomato devotee, Estabrook explains why our love for tomatoes is hurting not only field workers and the environment, but our taste buds, too.” ––Salon.com http://bit.ly/kHxGyI

“Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed our Most Alluring Fruit, is a new book based on Barry Estabrook’s James Beard Award-winning 2010 article “The Price of Tomatoes.” In both pieces, Estabrook details everything that’s gone wrong with the modern tomato, and he argues this is a perfect example of everything that’s wrong with modern agriculture. The modern day tomato contains more salt, less flavor, and way fewer nutritive properties than ever before, and one county in Florida is responsible for growing one-third of the tomatoes in the USA. What if something were to go wrong there with a food borne pathogen. Holy crap! Tens of thousands could get sick before the word got out. Frightening.” ––Andrew Zimmern http://bit.ly/m9Cc1D

“Barry Estabrook scowls at the thought of industries growing tomatoes in fields. Ruins their taste, he says, and leads to other atrocities as well. Thus begins his investigation and book Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed our Most Alluring Fruit. … The Gourmet article on which the book is based won the 2010 James Beard Award for magazine feature writing.” ––USAToday interview with Barry Estabrook http://usat.ly/lWQoVg

“Forewarning: If you ever want to buy a grocery store tomato again, you should not read this review. Tomatoland by Barry Estabrook is a contrasting story of McMansions and crumbling shacks, the bright red, beauty pageant-worthy orbs on your $8 Angus burger versus the fruit sprayed with so many toxic chemicals they have caused serious birth defects and disfigurements, and farming empires worth millions supported by human trafficking. (Says Estabrook: “If you have ever eaten a tomato during the winter months, you have eaten a fruit picked by a slave.”)” ––LA Weekly http://bit.ly/jPJlfD

“Our enormous appetite for having pretty much any food available to us at anytime of year has led to a system where yes, you can have a tomato in February, but the cost is a lot more than the $1.25/lb you’re likely to pay at your local Wal-Mart. It comes at the cost of enormous environmental damage and shocking worker abuse. It utilizes thousands of migrant workers, some of whom are undocumented, and many of whom live and work in literal slave conditions. … Tomatoland is based on Estabrook’s James Beard Award-winning 2010 article “The Price of Tomatoes,” and is an in-depth investigation of what’s wrong with the modern tomato (and by extension, modern agriculture). It is vital information that every conscientious eater-and parents of eaters-ought to know. Hopefully, as more people read the book, they will begin to look beyond price, and start considering cost.” ––Huffington Post http://huff.to/iSXDvu

Author says he’s found rotten truth about tomatoes : MyFoxTAMPABAY.com

The story ends with Tomatoland, an exposé of today’s agribusiness systems, which produce industrial tomatoes as lacking in nutrition as they are flavor. Of all the fruits and vegetables we eat, none suffers at the hand of factory farming more than a tomato grown in the winter fields of Florida, which accounts for one-third of the fresh tomatoes grown in the United States. Modern agribusiness can’t deliver a decent-tasting tomato in large part because it’s essentially against the law; regulations set by the Florida Tomato Committee determine what a tomato should look like, and the older, tasty varieties don’t conform to the rules of color and shape.

As Barry explains in this fact-filled yet approachable book, consumers and society pay a price when we take taste and thought out of our food purchases:

• The tomato got its start in the arid climates of South America, making Florida’s humid weather possibly the worst place for tomato growing. This results in heavy use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides.
• The underpaid workers in Florida’s tomato fields are exposed to chemicals daily, with a toll including cancers, respiratory ailments, and severe birth defects among newborns. That’s not all—one assistant U.S. attorney referred to Florida’s tomato fields as “ground zero for modern-day slavery,” complete with beatings and being “sold” to crew bosses to pay debts.
• A tomato today contains less vitamin C, thiamin, niacin, and calcium and 14 times as much sodium as its 1960s counterpart.

There’s no doubt Americans—anyone who longs for the flavor and texture of a truly home-grown tomato—will want to hear the messages of Tomatoland. Tomatoes are our second-most popular produce behind lettuce, with Americans buying $5 billion worth of commercially grown fresh tomatoes in 2009. And nearly nine out of 10 backyard gardens include tomatoes.

After reading Tomatoland, we should never look at a tomato the same way again—or settle for inferior produce.