A tomato is no longer just a tomato. And as consumer knowledge and tastes become ever more sophisticated, a good tomato is no longer necessarily good enough.
That's the underlying business philosophy that has driven Immokalee-based, super-grower Lipman — the largest field grower of tomatoes in North America — to work to develop proprietary varieties that incorporate abundant flavor, nutritional value, color, shape and shelf life.
In the past, tomatoes were selected as inbred, or self-pollinated, varieties. Growers would simply choose a plant that did better than the rest, then replant its seeds. Today, however, there is much more science behind the process.
"Parents," or tomatoes chosen for their superior genes when it comes to taste, size, color and resistance to disease, are inbred until the lines are stable — usually for six or seven generations. Then, "Tomato A," bred for a trait such as ideal taste, is intercrossed with "Tomato B," bred for ideal size and shape, to create a new hybrid that can be brought to market with much fanfare.
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