[dbarberic]

My wife, who works at a hospital in Northern Ohio, told me a couple of days ago that the hospital cafeteria is going to stop serving tomatoes. Even though the customers pay for the food and the meal is not subsidized, tomatoes are now too expensive to serve.

She has also been complaining how expensive produce has gotten and how poor quality it is at our local grocery store. In some cases, prices are 3 to 4x what she remembers historically paying.

One of her co-workers knows someone who works in the produce industry, and he has reported that it is the increased transportation costs, driven by the increase in oil, that are causing the price of produce to increase. I explained to my wife that it also probably also has to do with the increase cost of fertilizer and pesticides which are made using NG and oil.

I guess this is one sign of things to come. I wonder when local restaurants or fast food chains are going to cut certain components of menu items due to increased cost (i.e. Big Mac will no longer come with a tomato, etc) that they can not pass onto the customer?

Does anyone else out there have antidotal stories of products being served cut, or services cut, due to increased cost (attributed to oil)?

[ALBY]

no great loss really. i drown in tomatos in august then spend the rest of the year fondly remembering my garden while we make gravy with our canned tomatos. every once in a while, we fall victim to the desire for a fresh tomato and buy a package of red hothouse tennis balls. they look like tomatos but the similarity ends there.

even those little grape tomatos have lost all their taste recently. agribusiness has genetically modified the perfect tomato, perfect for long haul trucking that is.

[frankthetank]

I'm with ALBY. I drown in tomatoes for most of the summer (if you do it right you can get tomatoes in June given the right tomato seed. I eat so many during July/AUG/SEPT/OCT that the rubber things in the store don't appeal to me whatsoever. I still have a huge amt of frozen tmatoes that i have to use up by July or so. Chili anyone?

[NeoPeasant]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dbarberic', '
')I guess this is one sign of things to come. I wonder when local restaurants or fast food chains are going to cut certain components of menu items due to increased cost (i.e. Big Mac will no longer come with a tomato, etc) that they can not pass onto the customer?

[FoxV]

What are you guys worried about, its only food.

its not like it has any effect on inflation or the CPI

[Specop_007]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ALBY', 'n')o great loss really. i drown in tomatos in august then spend the rest of the year fondly remembering my garden while we make gravy with our canned tomatos. every once in a while, we fall victim to the desire for a fresh tomato and buy a package of red hothouse tennis balls. they look like tomatos but the similarity ends there.

even those little grape tomatos have lost all their taste recently. agribusiness has genetically modified the perfect tomato, perfect for long haul trucking that is.

[foodnotlawns]

Well, people take decent food for granted. It's about time they started noticing this issue.

People in my area still poison their land with chemical lawn treatments and scoff at the idea of local agriculture.

That's interesting that Big Macs don't have tomatoes any more.

My wife has noticed price increases at the supermarket.

Most of the people around here scoff at vegetable gardening and keeping chickens and such, but I got a few farming buddies around. One of them is a professor, and he said something kind of insightful regarding all this. He goes to the Whole Foods market for specific things, and he said that because of his 2 half acre gardens he is able to eat like a rich man, and that it would cost 150 a week to eat the way he does.

It's incredibly stupid how much land around here is not being used. I've met several former farmers sitting on their fallow land, not interested in farming it or renting it to someone who wants to do so. Many will sell their land to developers and "move to a condo in Florida" or "move to my hunting lodge in Maine" as I have heard them say. It's like the whole damn culture has decided to die.

[Specop_007]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('foodnotlawns', ' ')Many will sell their land to developers and "move to a condo in Florida" or "move to my hunting lodge in Maine" as I have heard them say. It's like the whole damn culture has decided to die.

[Cobra_Strike]

I am really happy that my family grows and enjoys fresh produce. Mostly because I feel that fresh and local is going to be what is available in the future. Too many people it seems are totally detached from reality and the way that their food gets on their plate.

[Specop_007]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('tinosorb', 'T')his is pretty bad news to me but I am not suprised. It will get worse.

Fresh produce is one of the high points of my life-- a true luxury-- and it is an extremely expensive habit even with my budget grocer and his markdown bin.

I eat 2-6 lbs of produce per day 365 days a year and tomatoes are among my favorites. I still bought them when they were close to $4/lb even when the cashiers tried to talk me out of them. Even when they are at their nadir of taste they still taste pretty good to me.

I guess I am going to have to start growing my own. I started small this year, just chicory, arugula, and mizuna in buckets, but I can't afford not to expand on this in a major way.

[smallpoxgirl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dbarberic', 't')he hospital cafeteria is going to stop serving tomatoes.

[strider3700]

the beauty of hurricane related tomatoe shortages was they happened exactly when my plants where loaded down. Only place I noticed that tomatoes where in trouble was at wendies but everyone at work bitched about the price for quite awhile.

[Leanan]

You might try Googling the name of your county or town and CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). You may find a CSA farm in your area. There are different models, but usually, you pay to join, and agree to work on the farm a certain number of hours. They teach you how to farm, and you get vegetables, fruits, flowers, and herbs each week.

The one in my area is connected to a local college. You pay about $20 a week, and get enough veggies each week to feed two vegetarians or four non-vegetarians. You can share memberships if you can't eat all the veggies yourself. You also have to work 12 hours on the farm. It runs six months out of the year (spring through fall).

I suspect that eating fresh tomatoes in winter is something that most of us will have to give up, though. Luckily, I like canned just fine. And tomato sauce. Yum.

[FairMaiden]

Leanan - thank you so much for the tip! I found a farm in my area that doesn't require any participation but welcomes it. I'm close to buying my own place this year (with some land to grow food) but I'll probably be too late for this season...so this will be a perfect chance to learn and prepare for next year when I have my own garden.

[bruin]

This is like boiling frogs. If you slowly raise the temperature, they won't jump out of the pot before they're cooked.

So we lose tomatos today, and then something else tomorrow. After five years, and losing this and thats, many will look around and say, "Gee, maybe there is something to this PO thing." But it will be too late to make a soft landing if we don't get in gear now and jump out of the pot.

[frankthetank]

I know what your saying. Thats why its better to grow things that are expensive (high value). A good example i would say is potatoes. I can buy 50pounds of potates for a couple of bucks in season and make 2 bags last the winter. I would have my work cut out to try to grow that many pounds for so little.

[strider3700]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('frankthetank', 'I') know what your saying. Thats why its better to grow things that are expensive (high value). A good example i would say is potatoes. I can buy 50pounds of potates for a couple of bucks in season and make 2 bags last the winter. I would have my work cut out to try to grow that many pounds for so little.