Tomatoes An Overview of the Tomato Industry in Georgia

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Tomatoes An Overview of theTomato Industryin
Georgia
Georgia Agricultural Education Curriculum
Office Dr. Frank Flanders and Catrina
Kennedy October 2006
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Objectives

• Students will be able to
• Identify tomato products.
• Describe the four different types of tomatoes.
• Identify the states with the most tomato
  production.
• Describe where tomatoes stand amongst other
  Georgia commodities.

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Why the Tomato Industry is Important in Georgia

• Tomatoes are one of the state's top cash crops.
• Available throughout much of the year, tomatoes
  are grown in southwest Georgia.
• Native to the Andes Mountains, tomatoes were
  introduced into Central America by prehistoric
  Indian migrations.

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Tomato Products

• Soup
• Sauces
• Ketchup
• Feed for broilers

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US Tomato Production
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Georgias Commodity Value
Item Rank by sale Sales (1000) Percent of total sales
Poultry and eggs 1 2,780,214 56.6
Vegetables, melons, and potatoes 2 383,556 7.8
Cotton and cotton seed 3 318,013 6.5
Nursery, greenhouse, floriculture 4 315,324 6.4
Other crops and hay 5 246,936 5
Cattle and calves 6 240,070 4.9
Milk and other dairy products from cows 7 212,720 4.3
Fruits, tree nuts and berries 8 122,151 2.5
Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas 9 102,464 2.1
Tobacco 10 89,058 1.8
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Types of Tomatoes

• Indeterminate
• Determinate
• Cherry
• Grape

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Interesting Facts

• Tomatoes are not vegetables, but are fruit (or
  more accurately, berries)!
• The tomato was thought to be poisonous until the
  1800s by North Americans and Northern Europeans.
• Ketchup originally started out as ketsiap, a 7th
  century Chinese sauce made with fish entrails,
  vinegar, and spices. It wasnt until 1792 that
  tomatoes were used as an ingredient.

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Assessment

1. Tomatoes are one of the state's top ____.
2. What state in number one in tomato production?
3. What are the four types of tomatoes?
4. Name products produced from tomatoes?
5. Where are tomatoes native to?

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Answers

1. Cash crops
2. Florida
3. Indeterminate, determinate, cherry and grape
4. Answers will vary
5. Andes Mountains