California also known as salad bowl of USA
California is known for its redwood trees, beaches, and as the home of Hollywood.
California is also significant producer of luscious, red tomatoes.
The intense Californian sun has caused an unprecedented heatwave and a protracted drought since 2020.
Without enough rain and water from the Colorado River, summer crops like tomatoes and onions have shriveled, posing a threat to the growth of leafy greens throughout the upcoming winter.
Fresh produce prices have increased due to the limited supply, as have prices for pantry essentials like pasta sauce and prepared meals.
There are decreasing supplies available to the packing company that provides tomato paste and chopped tomatoes to food companies.
Customers are being informed that they may not get their complete order volume, which is something they don’t like to hear.
The intense heat and an ongoing drought has parched the land and cut into crop yields.
That’s why farmers are forced to plant crop on only 1/3rd of the available harvestable area.
A tomato crop will take about 24 to 28 inches of water to grow and when farmers don’t have this kind of water they just can’t take the risk of planting a crop and then not having the water at time of crop maturity.
The Harvest of tomatoes is sometimes done two weeks earlier than usual as majority of crop matures early due to heat but since not all crop matures 5% to 10% loss is suffered by farmer.
