The Irish potato famine laid waste to Ireland in the 1840s. The stories of deprivation, disease and death are staggering to read.

The blight hit Ireland particularly hard for two reasons. Most of the population depended on the potato as the only staple for food, and only a handful of potato varieties were grown (making the crop more vulnerable to pathogens).

Today’s small sustainable and organic farmers maintain a diverse mixture of crops and products. But tomatoes are one of their most profitable. Generating $4.00-7.00 or more per pound, organic and no-spray tomatoes, especially delicate heirloom varieties, are the profitable turf of smaller farmers. Even small farms can grow from 1,500 to 20,000 plants in a summer.

Then a top cash crop fails in a matter of days.

The image of a plant hit by the tomato blight reminds me of a cadaver stretched over barbed wire.

An organic farm in Sheffield Connecticut ripped out 500 plants that would have yield 1,500 lbs. of tomatoes and as much as $7,500 in desperately needed cash. All they were able to harvest was green fruit.

Support Your Farmer

Define a small farm as $100,000 in gross sales (I can’t sort out USDA farm classifications). Net farm incomes generally run 15-17%, but tomatoes are worth far more.

You go from making some money to losing your shirt. No government bailouts for these workers. As one Pennsylvania farmer said recently: “We’ve been doing this for 40 years. This is the biggest financial hit we’ve ever had. It’s worse than hurricanes, floods or late frosts.”

Now more than ever, small farmers need you to buy direct.

You Say Tomato, I Say Agricultural Disaster
Dealing with Tomato Blight