The 2023 California canning tomato price is set at $138 per ton for the conventional crop. This is a record price, 31% higher than last year’s base price of $105. The California Tomato Growers Association announced the price after negotiations with the state’s tomato canneries. Premiums ranging from $3 per ton to $18 per ton for late-season crops and are based on delivered tonnage. The remaining terms are the same as the 2022 master agreement.
California canning tomato acreage was reported at 229,000 in 2021 and 2022, according to the CTGA. This is the lowest acreage since 1988. Yields have declined in the past several years to an average of under 46 tons per acre last year, according to the association. This is after they peaked in 2018 at almost 51 tons.
Total production that peaked at over 14 million tons in 2015 on 299,000 acres fell to under 11 million tons in each of the last two seasons.
Source: farmprogress.com