WInter is approaching and tomatoes will not be in season through most of the United States. "If you've ever eaten a tomato during the winter you've eaten a fruit picked by a slave," reports Barry Estabrook in his new book TOMATOLAND. Douglas Molloy, the chief assistant United States Attorney in Ft. Myers, called the conditions “ground zero for modern-day slavery.” The workers (many of whom are undocumented) have been locked up in chains, beaten for trying to get away, given inadequate food, and forced to pick during chemical spraying (which is against the law). Seven cases have been successfully prosecuted in the last 12 years or so, but there is much more out there.
I know I don't want to eat a tomato brought to me by slave labor this winter. I expect you don't either. So what can we do?
Recently Florida tomato growers agreed to raise the workers' pay for the first time in almost 30 years, provide shade, water and other basic human accomodations, and offer some protections against threats, battery, being bought & sold as chattel and similar phenomena that some of the workers have endured. Some national food sellers, such as Whole Foods, Bon Appetit, Taco Bell, McDonalds have signed agreements with the farm workers' group, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers [Immokalee rhymes with broccoli & refers to the area of FL where many tomatoes are grown]. The Coalition's Fair Food Agreements are promises to sell only tomoatoes grown under fair, humane conditions. But other supermarket chains are refusing to sign.
The cost to the environment is another reason to avoid the Florida tomato this winter. Florida is most inhospitable to the plant. The soil is very sandy and requires major infusions of chemicals to substitute for the nutrients the plant needs. In addition, Florida's notorious humidity is favorable to the many fungi and pests that attack tomatoes. Acre for acre, Florida's consumer tomatoes need eight times (8 times!) the chemical pesticide & herbicide of the consumer tomatoes raised in California, whose soil and climate are more suitable.
We all know that the winter supermarket tomato tastes terrible anyway. They are bred for weight and travel, not flavor. The tomatoes are picked unripe and gassed in a warehouse to turn them red. Estabrook says that the modern tomato is also depleted of nutrients compared with that of 40-50 years ago.
What can we each do to further the cause of the CIW?
1. PRESSURE these supermarket chains to sign the Fair Food Agreement. This page on the CIW website has links to email, downloadable sample letters, postcards and other resources to help you contact any of these corporations doing business in your area.
Kroger
Martin's
Publix
Stop & Shop
Trader Joe's
2. STOCK UP NOW on quality tomatoes (local and/or organically grown are best) and preserve them so that you can get that fix this winter and don't have to buy the anemic ones. There is canning, of course, but you can also try freezing or making relishes, sauces, preserves to have this winter. I haven't yet tried these methods, described here, here and here but they look great!
3. IF ALL ELSE FAILS, buy hydroponic tomatoes. Or by CALIFORNIA field tomatoes fresh or jarred, or canned WITHOUT BIsphenol A lining the can (this plastic leeches into the food and is not good for you).