California canning tomato price set at $138California canning tomato price set at $138

The 2023 California canning tomato price is set at $138 per ton for the conventional crop. The record price is 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 crop and are based on delivered tonnage. Remaining terms are the same as the 2022 master agreement.

CTGA Board Member Don Cameron typically plants about 2,200 acres of conventional and organic tomatoes that are harvested throughout the summer. Cameron says the organic price has not been set.

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 after they peaked in 2018 at almost 51 tons. Cameron cites a host of issues, including disease and irrigation water quality from groundwater wells.

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.

CTGA published statistics go back to 1966, when growers harvested 3.1 million tons of canning tomatoes on 162,500 acres. Average yields that year were under 20 tons per acre.