Economic Evaluation of Alternative Production Systems for Fresh-Market Tomatoes in the Mid-Atlantic Region

Abstract

ABSTRACT Growing competition in tomato production and marketing, in conjunction with environmental concerns, requires innovative systems for fresh-market tomato production that are profitable and environmentally sound. This study evaluated the performance of fresh-market tomato production in systems representing different levels of off-farm inputs from 1997 to 1999 at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Maryland. These experimental systems included different cultivars (‘Sunbeam’, ‘Mountain Pride’), soil mulch practices (bare soil, black polyethylene, compost, hairy vetch cover crop), and fungicide application schedules (no fungicide, weekly application, and application determined by TOMCAST model predictions). Gross margins were computed based on experimental yields, production costs from enterprise budgets for staked and tied tomato crops, and weekly prices at the Baltimore fruit and vegetable wholesale market. The Roy's safety-first criterion was used to compare the preferred tomato systems for a risk-averse tomato grower. Gross margins from the hairy vetch system were higher than those from the other mulch systems in 1997, but tended to be lower in the other years. The black polyethylene system had the least overall economic risk, and the hairy vetch system had the highest risk. Gross margins among fungicide treatments were highest in the TOMCAST and weekly-based systems compared to the no fungicide system across all years. Economic risk also was similar in the weekly and TOMCAST systems. These results indicate that the TOMCAST system may be implemented to reduce fungicide applications with no additional economic risk, but that the environmental benefits of the hairy vetch system may require more economic risk to growers.