Harvest time at Muir Glen Organic
![Harvest time at Muir Glen Organic Harvest time at Muir Glen Organic](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt09e5e63517a16184/bltafc06db067aebac6/64cbf83cdb0bcc7a8de33eaa/NewHopeNetwork_Horizontal_RGB.png?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
D.A. Rominger & Sons is a 700-acre, third-generation farm located in Winters, California (Yolo County). Here, tomatoes are only harvested for 35 days out of the year—no more, no less. The farm has been certified organic since 1990.
Taylor West of Muir Glen explains that organic is important to the company not only because “it’s better for us as stewards of our bodies and the Earth,” but because “the taste and quality is incomparable.” Working with nature, not against it, has been the company’s mantra since its early days in the 1990s. “Nature is not an adversary to manipulate," says West. "She’s an ally.” Organic farming also keeps the soil healthier for a longer period of time and protects the land’s biodiversity. It takes three years to turn a piece of ground organic, so organic farmers who are expanding their business must find and prepare new ground far in advance.
Erik Wilson, the agricultural expert at Olam Tomato Processors (who works with Muir Glen to harvest and process each year’s crop), demonstrates how to evaluate a tomato for ripeness. “Color, size, sugar level, and peel-ability are all important,” he says. If you want to get even more technical, the pH level of raw tomatoes should be about 4.2 to 4.3. A tomato’s pH goes up as it ripens.
Although the California drought has been tough on farmers, Wilson explains that there are benefits, including fewer weeds to threaten the crops. Tomatoes grow best in hot, dry climates, which means a wet season can introduce its own set of problems. Tomatoes undergo a five-month growth cycle from the time the seeds are planted to the time the fruit is harvested. Because organic farms do not harvest year-round, cover crops are used the rest of the year to keep nutrients in the soil.
Selecting which tomatoes to grow is a rigorous process, says Wilson. Roma tomatoes are the kind most commonly used for canning because their oval-like shape makes them easier for harvesting machines to latch onto.
Our hosts had basil and fresh mozzarella ready to go with our hand-picked tomatoes on the tour. What a treat! But here’s a surprising fact: canned tomatoes are actually even healthier than fresh. The heat used in the canning process doubles the amount of lycopene in tomatoes—a carotenoid that may help prevent prostate and breast cancer. As an added benefit, drizzling a bit of olive oil (or another fat) over tomatoes helps your body absorb even more of the lycopene. How’s that for culinary justification?
The tomato harvesting machines at the farm use filters to evaluate each fruit’s ripeness, and select or discard tomatoes accordingly. Tomatoes are picked at the peak of ripeness and timestamped to ensure they go from field to can in no more than eight hours. Haste makes a big difference in taste, but it also requires much more planning compared to conventional methods of tomato processing.
Not too long ago, Muir Glen asked its farmers an important question: “What are the constraints on the organic side of farming, and what are some ways we can make things better?” The answer was a resounding call for more high-quality compost at an excellent price point. Thus, the GO (General Mills and Olam) Compost project was born. The 25-acre compost site is fully organic and produces 10,000 tons of compost per year, which is then transported and applied to the 3,500 acres of nearby tomato fields. The nutrients and organic matter within the compost improve soil health, increase crop yields and reduce the overall carbon footprint of tomato production.
The compost piles we saw used tomato waste (of course) for their nitrogen input, and a combination of almond shells and rice “trash” (straw and hulls) for carbon input. The piles are arranged in large, long piles called “windrows”. To meet the organic standard, the temperature of the windrows is taken every 100 feet, and must fall between 131 to 165 degrees.
This nifty machine (called a “compost windrow turner”—more like a Transformer, if you ask me) was imported from Europe to speed up the compost mixing process. Turning is only really necessary in large-scale composting operations, since the piles are so large they can essentially smother themselves. A properly constructed home compost pile should contain enough air spaces (through the use of hay and straw, or pipes driven into the pile) to aerate itself.
This nifty machine (called a “compost windrow turner”—more like a Transformer, if you ask me) was imported from Europe to speed up the compost mixing process. Turning is only really necessary in large-scale composting operations, since the piles are so large they can essentially smother themselves. A properly constructed home compost pile should contain enough air spaces (through the use of hay and straw, or pipes driven into the pile) to aerate itself.
Last week, I had the opportunity to visit D.A. Rominger & Sons in the heart of California’s Sacramento Valley—one of eight certified organic farms contracted by Muir Glen Organic to produce its canned tomatoes. I also got to tour the enormous, award-winning organic composting site that Muir Glen uses (in partnership with Olam Tomato Processors) to “keep more of each tomato in the food chain, and out of landfills.”
Here’s a peek behind-the-scenes of one of the largest organic tomato processing operations in the world, and a big-picture example of sustainability in action.
(To move through the gallery, click "Next" in the upper-right box.)
About the Author(s)
You May Also Like