Let us contrast this killer tomato case study with one that has more positive impacts. Hey!...how about a tomato that was organically grown on Lynburn Farm in Saanich, B.C

Cathy Taylor has written an article called "Journey of the Moss Street Market Tomato". The following summary of it will highlight how positively organic this tomato can be!

• Tina Frader is an organic farmer who grows food in the gardens of seniors who can no longer maintain their gardens. They receive food in exchange.
• The untreated tomato seeds are open-pollinated, meaning that the produce will provide good seed year after year to on-going changes in climate and soil conditions. Farmers remain self-sufficient by growing out their own seeds; and by trading them they ensure diversity as well as community, not private ownership of seeds.
• Seeds are first planted in soil blocks that the farmers make by mixing compost and a special mix of organic soil. The seeds are hand planted , watered and kept warm and protected from frost. The seedlings arethen transplanted in soil that has been kept up over the winter with compost, green manures and other fertilizers available through the natural cycle. No artificial fertilizers can be added to the soil. Even manure must come from a source known to be free of antibiotics and chemicals. Throughout the growing cycle everything must be hand weeded. Herbicides and pesticides can not be used to control weeds or pests. Even fence posts have to be untreated.
• Watering is planned carefully so there is not an inbalance created in the surrounding environment. Small machinery is sometimes used, but not on a large scale: keeping fossil fuel use to a minimum is important.
• When you buy your tomatoes at the Market they will have been picked the day before or the same day, at the peak of their taste and nutritional quality. Because the produce is picked at its peak, organic farmers do not have the luxury of allowing their produce to sit on grocery store shelves for days and so manage productions and marketing carefully.
• Most likely, the tomatoes are picked by the farmers or volunteers who help in exchange for food and the chance to learn about organic farming. As it is, most farmers earn about $3.50 an hour. Tina works on her farm from February to October, 10-14 hours a day, five to six days a week. In 1993, her income at the farm after expenses was $8500. Most of this was used to buy materials and take care of repairs in preparation for the coming season. The advantage of working on Tina's farm is that you know you are working in a healthy environment surrounded by a diversity of birds, wildlife and, of course, insects.
• The most packaging you will find around a tomato at the Market is a paper bag which the vendors will gladly keep if you bring your own. The boxes they put their tomatoes in have been scavenged from the back of grocery stores. The farthest the tomato will travel is 30km as opposed to the average distance of grocery produce which is 1700km.
• And there is no question that tomatoes yu buy at the Market offer an explosion of flavour not found in grocery store tomatoes.
  Return to Attack of the Killer Tomato page.