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By Ramona Frances - The Madera Tribune

John Teixeira, who is an organic farmer, uses compost, compost tea, gypsum, rock dust and seaweed to amend the soil. Teixeira has been around tomatoes for over thirty years.

Photo by: Wendy Alexander

A variety of organic heirloom from last year's bumper crop.

Photo by: Ramona Frances

In contrast to last year's bumper crop of specialty organic tomatoes, this year's crop has faced one blight after another. Not all is lost, however.

"The early tomatoes looked squirrelly," tomato farmer John Teixeira said. "But the flavor is starting to come on now with warmer weather. The fruit might come out of it, but its not as pretty as last year. You see more blemishes, but the flavor is fine."

Teixeira has been around tomatoes for over thirty years, says his father and brother, who are also in the business. John's teen son, Will, also has an interest in tomatoes.

"We have not been having tomato weather," Teixeira said. "The main problem is that it was wet early on. We haven't had weather like that since 1998. We had perfect weather last year. This year, we had to deal with wet soil and wind. It's been completely different. Every year there are obstacles; this year there were more. That affects production.

"With wet weather, there is more grass and more weeds, more insect pressure, more plants to host disease," he said. "There has been viruses attacting tomatoes, some of it on the west side. I have seen Tomato Spotted Wilt (TSW). The insect called thrip injects a virus into the plant which retards growth and sometimes kills the plant. It really screws things up. There has been a lot more mice and rodents around too. The more food you have for them, the more rodents and bugs you have."

Another challenge Teixeira has is bringing what he calls a "dead field" back to life. He describes it as a 10-acre field that has not been farmed before.

"It takes to increase the microbe action."

Teixeira, who is an organic farmer, uses compost, compost tea, gypsum, rock dust and seaweed to amend the soil.

Despite setbacks, Teixeira is looking forward to this fall's tomato event. Teixeira is the tomato supplier for the annual tomato event called "Tomato's Night Out," to be held September 24 in north Madera County at Alan Clark's Red Top Ranch near Highway 152. The event, sponsored by Slow Food Madera, has outgrown its former location, the Vineyard restaurant, in Madera.

"Where else can you go to taste 100 varieties of tomatoes?" Teixeira asked. "It will be a night to remember in Madera, a sit down event with Chef Melissa out of Merced," he said.

Ramona Frances Ramona Frances is a staff columnist, writer and photographer for the Madera Tribune. You may contact Ramona at 674.8134 ext. 222 or by e-mail ramona (at) maderatribune.net The Madera Tribune online subscription To subscribe or log on, CLICK HERE. For more information first, CLICK HERE.