Embattled Tomato Industry Leaders Gather in Naples, Fla., for Conference

NAPLES — It’s time to forget about the past and look to the future in Florida’s tomato industry.

So said Reggie Brown, manager of the Florida Tomato Committee, in a state of the industry address in Naples on Wednesday.

His committee, which markets and regulates Florida’s tomatoes in the winter, is holding its annual conference here this week as the 2008-09 season gets under way.

“Let’s have a good time and not focus on the negative while we’re here,” Brown said.

But it was a tall order — even for himself.

“There is just this cloud hanging over the industry and this meeting this week,” he said.

He started off his speech by describing the state of the industry as “almost depressing” as growers face higher costs and struggle to recover from a nationwide salmonella outbreak that federal regulators wrongly linked to tomatoes a few months ago.

“We had a lot of different experiences last year, most of them positive, but some of them jolting,” Brown said.

Source: Naples Daily News