Tomatoland (31 page)

Leaning wearily against the railing:
The events described in this paragraph and the next took place on October 20, 2008.

Pascuala Sanchez and her three children:
Larry Hannan and Ryan Mills, “Grief Grips Immokalee,”
Naples Daily News
, March 6, 2007; Katy Bishop and Ryan Mills, “$6M Settlement Reached in Deadly Immokalee Trailer Park Fire,”
Naples Daily News
, September 12, 2007.

where one-quarter of the residences:
Janine Zeitlin, “Not Giving Up on Fixing Up Immokalee Housing,”
Naples Daily News
, October 22, 2006.

After touring Immokalee in 2008, Senator Bernie Sanders:
See the transcript of the Hearing of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, United States Senate, One Hundred and Tenth Congress Second Session on Examining Abuses and Improving Working Conditions for Tomato Workers (April 15, 2008).
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_senate_hearing&docid=41-881
.

attempt to shutter:
Tracy X. Miguel, “Immokalee Migrant Workers Could Lose Their Homes Due to Collier Zoning Violations,”
Naples Daily News
, January 18, 2009.

One of the reasons that rents:
The explanation of why rents are so high in Immokalee and the description of the workers gathered at La Fiesta as being “the bottom of the bottom” of America’s workforce came from an interview with Greg Asbed of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, October 20, 2008.

One morning I encountered Lucas Benitez:
The meeting and interview took place October 20, 2008. Benitez provided background on the coalition’s early activities.

strikers began to weaken:
Donald P. Baker, “Florida Farm Workers Fast for Better Wages,”
Washington Post
, January 13, 1998.

Campaign for Fair Food:
For details about the campaign, see the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Web site,
http://www.ciw-online.org
.

grape boycotts mounted by Cesar Chavez:
For an excellent account of Chavez’s activities see Miriam Pawel,
The Union of Their Dreams: Power, Hope, and Struggle in Cesar Chavez’s Farm Worker Movement
(New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2009).

“New Hedonism Generation”:
See
http://www.ciw-online.org/tbnyoumatrix.html
.

At a 2003 shareholders’ meeting:
See
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/YUM+Brands+Shareholders+Demonstrate+Strong+Support+for+Proposal...-a0101935074
.

Internet pseudonym surfxaholic36:
Amy Bennett Williams, “Burger King Exec Uses Daughter’s Online ID to Chide Immokalee Coalition,”
Fort Myers News-Press
, April 28, 2008.

textbook-quality public relations flub:
Elaine Walker, “Tomato Companies, Workers and Fast Food Firms Square Off,”
Miami Herald
, November 20, 2007.

exiled Brazilian scholar:
Paulo Freire,
Pedagogy of the Oppressed
(New York: Continuum, 2000).

$100,000 fine:
See Steven Greenhouse, “Tomato Pickers’ Wages Fight Faces Obstacles,” the
New York Times
, December 24, 2007.

A PENNY PER POUND

Technically, Brown has three jobs:
I interviewed Brown on June 3, 2010.

I encountered a grower named Joe Procacci:
I interviewed Procacci on March 2, 2005.

Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937:
See
http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5067868
.

By taking on Procacci:
For a company profile and history, see Doug Ohlemeier, “Procacci Bros. Marks 60 Years in Business,”
The Packer
, January 9, 2001.

introduced legislation that would specifically exempt UglyRipes:
See
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/06-5833.htm
.

Florida tomato growers have been falling further behind:
John J. Van Sickle, “Spatial and Vertical Price Transmission in Fresh Produce Markets” (presented at the Agricultural Markets Workshop, April 21, 2006).

In the last three decades:
I arrived at these figures by comparing the Consumer Price Index with the Producer Price Index for fresh-market, field-grown tomatoes as determined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service.
http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/MannUsda/viewDocumentInfo.do?documentID=1212
.

a market that was awash:
See Liam Pleven and Carolyn Cui, “Dying on the Vine: Tomato Prices—Tomatoes Go from Shortage to Glut in a Matter of Weeks,”
Wall Street Journal
, June 17, 2010.

a massive salmonella outbreak:
See Mickie Anderson, “UF Research Finds Salmonella Responds Differently to Varieties, Ripeness,”
University of Florida News
, September 21, 2010.

Mexican imports accounted for about one-fifth:
See “Vegetables and Melons: Tomatoes” briefing, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service (updated October 5, 2009).

Mexico agreed to a settlement:
Eili Klein, “Rotten Tomatoes! The Mexican Growers Tomato Suspension Agreement and Its Effects on Mexico’s Market Share: A Constant Market Shares Approach,” Johns Hopkins School of International Studies, April 2004.
http://www.princeton.edu/~eklein/pubs/MexicoMarketShareCMS_u2.pdf
.

The skeptics’ position was vindicated:
See Elaine Walker, “Tomato Companies, Workers and Fast Food Firms Square Off,”
Miami Herald
, November 20, 2007.

Brown was given an opportunity:
For a transcript of the U.S. Senate committee hearing, see
http://help.senate.gov/hearings/hearing/?id=0d03081e-0186-dc43-8fdf-0d68cfc2fc80
.

Crist agreed to meet:
Bill Maxwell, “Gov. Crist Backs Farmworkers,”
St. Petersburg Times
, April 5, 2009.

Five months later:
See Amy Bennett Williams, “Tomato Struggle Over after Immokalee Coalition Signs Historic Deal,”
Fort Myers News-Press
, November 17, 2010.

MATTERS OF TASTE

I met John Warner Scott:
I interviewed Scott in person on February 22, 2010. We also had several follow-up telephone conversations.

As for the reasonably fresh tomatoes:
Thomas Whiteside, “Tomatoes,” the
New Yorker
, January 24, 1977.

a tomato can lose its taste if exposed to cold temperatures:
Trevor V. Suslow and Marita Cantwell, “Tomato Recommendations for Maintaining Postharvest Quality,” University of California, Postharvest Technology Research and Information Center, February 10, 2009,
http://postharvest.ucdavis.edu/Produce/ProduceFacts/Veg/tomato.shtml
.

Harry Klee, a fellow University of Florida professor:
I interviewed Klee in person on February 23, 2010. We also had several follow-up telephone conversations.

In consultation with Howard Moskowitz:
For more about Moskowitz’s work, see Malcolm Gladwell, “The Ketchup Conundrum,” the
New Yorker
, September 6, 2004,
http://www.gladwell.com/2004/2004_09_06_a_ketchup.html
.

BUILDING A BETTER TOMATO

Tom Beddard had provided me:
I interviewed Beddard on October 13, 2010.

Schell chose a radically different path:
I interviewed Schell on June 21, 2010.

His most immediate problem:
See
Saulo Mesa et al v. Ag-Mart Produce, Inc.
, Case no. 2:07-cv-47-FtM-34DNF, U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Fort Myers Division,
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/florida/flmdce/2:2007cv00047/190427/
. Also Laura Layden, “Thousands of Ag-Mart Workers May Be Eligible for Money,”
Naples Daily News
, April 29, 2010.

Barbara Mainster cracked open a door:
I interviewed Mainster on October 13, 2010.

In truth government grants:
See Redlands Christian Migrant Association 2008–2009 Annual Report.
http://www.rcma.org/annual%20report/RCMAannualrept2008-2009.pdf
.

hired Steven Kirk to oversee reconstruction:
I interviewed Kirk on October 14, 2010.

an umbrella organization called Rural Neighborhoods:
See
http://www.faqs.org/tax-exempt/FL/Rural-Neighborhoods-Incorporated.html#revenue_a
.

TOMATOMAN

Tim Stark and I were in his pickup truck:
I interviewed Stark on September 14 and 15, 2010.

in his 2008 memoir:
Tim Stark,
Heirloom: Notes from an Accidental Tomato Farmer
, (New York: Broadway Books, 2008).

Stark told an NPR interviewer:
See “Heirloom Tomato Farmer Finds Beauty in the Ugly, August 8, 2008,”
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93356124
.

Stark was still grumbling:
Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld,
New York
, August 15, 2010,
http://nymag.com/restaurants/features/67495/
.

I was reminded of a passage:
Michael Pollan,
The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
(New York: Penguin, 2006), pp. 249–50.

EPILOGUE: WILD THINGS

just outside Tembladera:
For more information about the 2009 trip, see
http://irbtomato.blogspot.com/
.

Bibliography

Allen, Arthur.
Ripe: The Search for the Perfect Tomato
. Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint, 2010.

Bales, Kevin, and Ron Soodalter.
The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009.

Barndt, Deborah.
Tangled Routes: Women, Work, and Globalization on the Tomato Trail
. 2nd ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2008.

Bowe, John.
Nobodies: Modern American Slave Labor and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy.
New York: Random House, 2007.

Conover, Ted.
Coyotes: A Journey through the Secret World of America’s Illegal Aliens
. New York: Vintage, 1987.

Fromartz, Samuel.
Organic, Inc.: Natural Foods and How They Grew
. Orlando: Harcourt, 2006.

Goldman, Amy.
The Heirloom Tomato from Garden to Table: Recipes, Portraits, and History of the World’s Most Beautiful Fruit.
New York: Bloomsbury, 2008.

Kimbrell, Andrew, ed.
The Fatal Harvest Reader: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture
. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2002.

Livingston, Alexander W.
Livingston and the Tomato
. Foreword and appendix by Andrew F. Smith. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1998.

Martineau, Belinda.
First Fruit: The Creation of the Flavr Savr Tomato and the Birth of Genetically Engineered Food.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001.