Flavorite Hydroponic Tomatoes -

By Sandra Godwin

Weekly Times

 

An early spring shortage of tomatoes could be followed by a glut, depending on how Queensland tomato growers respond to last week's reported sabotage at Bowen seedling nursery.

A 12-member police taskforce is investigating the loss of more than seven million seedlings and plants from Sups Seedlings and neighbouring hydroponic growers Donnelly Farming, west of Bowen.

The destroyed crops were mostly tomatoes and capsicums, but also included melons, eggplants and cherry tomatoes.

Bowen District Growers Association industry development officer Denise Kreymborg said most of the seedlings would have been planted at 30 farms in the area, with harvest to begin in September.

Ms Kreymborg said the incident at Bowen – in which herbicide was injected into the water supply – was the forth in the area since 2002.

Supa Seedlings owner Leslie Eiseman was not taking calls from the media, but a staff member said tit would take two months sterilise the nursery before seedling production could restart in January.

In Victoria, Flavorite director mark Millis, whose company grows hydroponic tomatoes near Warragul, said the seedlings represented a third of the plantings at Bowen and would affect supplies of field-grown and hydroponic tomatoes from mid-September to mid-October.

Mr Millis, who runs the business with his son Will, said it was difficult to know what impact the incident would have on the industry.

“If tomatoes get expensive that will balance out demand for them,” Mr Millis said.

Mr Millis said Bowen growers usually finished picking before November when summer heat affected the fruit quality, reduced the availability of pickers and prices dropped.