Tomato moves into the top money-making spot in Virginia

Only California and Florida produce more of the red vegetable than Virginia. (The Virginian-Pilot illustration)

By Linda McNatt
The Virginian-Pilot

The tomato - the juicy, tasty red orb that it is - has moved into the top money-making spot in Virginia.

In a state known for its tobacco, soybeans, cotton and peanuts, tomatoes had never been stars. Not so anymore.

Virginia now ranks third in the United States in producing tomatoes, behind California and Florida, said Amy Bailey, spokeswoman for the Virginia field office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service.

In 2005, soybeans led in total farm product cash receipts.

But tomatoes, worth $98.7 million to the Old Dominion in 2006, moved ahead. Cash receipts for soybeans, at $86.4 million, moved down a notch.

State officials are uncertain how tomatoes cropped up unexpectedly in importance among farm commodities. It could be that many other crops have been having such a hard time with weather and prices, or that tomatoes are so versatile and can be used in many other products, officials said.

Corn receipts in 2006 were $86.1 million, followed by tobacco and hay, according to the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation.

Hay was at the top of the list in acres harvested - at more than 1.2 million - followed by soybeans, corn, winter wheat and cotton.

Tobacco sales, at $71.6 million, were 18 percent higher than the previous year. Peanuts, once the top crop for western regions of Hampton Roads, fell to the lowest price since 1973, partly because of the demise of the peanut quota system.

Tomatoes grow in abundance on Virginia's fertile Eastern Shore. In Hanover County, near Richmond, they have a tomato festival every July to celebrate the crop. An estimated 40,000 people attended this year, according to the county's Department of Parks and Recreation.

The tomato-growing season is almost over on the Eastern Shore, where tomatoes - like other crops - suffered in the statewide drought, said Lynn Gayle, a grower who works for Taylor & Fulton, growers and shippers of the area's fresh market tomatoes. The crop is shipped every year from Virginia to almost every state on the East Coast. Gayle said he was surprised when he heard the new figures.

"But 2006 wasn't that good of a year, either," Gayle said. "And, just like other farmers, our expenses have been up by about 30 percent for the last two years. That figure is a surprise."

Linda McNatt, (757) 222-5561, linda.mcnatt@pilotonline.com