GROWTH OF THE FRESH GREENHOUSE TOMATO MARKET IN THE USA

For the past decade, greenhouse produced tomato consumption by American consumers has grown at an explosive rate.
As a class of category in the typical produce section of a US supermarket, no other class of product growth can compare.
The catalyst fueling this dramatic growth is based on consumer perception and awareness that greenhouse tomatoes are far superior in their consistent quality and taste as compared to the standard field grown artificially ripened tomato.
This field grown tomato has been the mainstay of the United States consumer representing nearly the entire market from World War II until the 1990’s.
The only exception has been seasonal availability in summer from locally farmed or consumer produced “backyard” tomatoes.
The introduction of the “Dutch” greenhouse tomato from the Netherlands in the 1980’s represented a niche product in terms of quantity of the entire fresh tomato market.
However their introduction of greenhouse tomatoes sparked a growth that has risen from 1 % of the entire fresh tomato market in 1990 to over 16% today.
The fresh tomato market is a large market approaching six billion pounds per annum in the United States fresh Produce Theater.
Fresh tomato sales as a category in the United States represents, from year to year, either the number one or number two spot in total fresh retail produce sales.
When one considers that the entire market has grown at a consistent rate each year, (per capita consumption has gone from 12 lbs. per capita in 1970 to 19 lbs. per capita in 1999), and retail sales, as opposed to food service sales, represent approximately fifty % of the nearly six billion pound sold per year which is where the greatest penetration has occurred, then its fair to say with confidence that the greenhouse grown tomato are here to stay.
The market acceptance and growth is the good news, however it has come with change and difficulty.
Seasonal product proliferation from imports to the USA, the ferocious pace of food chain consolidation, free trade without fair trade, and rapid expansion of production capacity in North America has caused average annual pricing back to the grower to decrease over thirty % in the second half of the 1990’s as compared to the first half.
This rapid decrease in pricing has slowed domestic expansion and caused many growers financial difficulty.
The future will continue to change and its effect on consumers, growers and market channels will be challenging.