I work in stockfeed, and that tweet gets funnier and funnier the longer I've been in the agriculture industry. No thought at all about the input costs: land, nutrients, water, labour, transport, storage, quality control. Confidence and stupidity are quite the combination.
And on top of all that, the idea that people will pay $1 for one tomato.
That's about the going rate in Australia, if we're talking hydroponic or vine-ripened. But either of those options create a whole new set of challenges and costs. Sorry for stepping on your salient point, I'm just upset thinking about how fucking expensive tomatoes are at the moment :)
That's less than the cost of an heirloom tomato here in the Philly suburbs. I wouldn't pay a dime for a "standard" tomato that's durable enough to ship to a regular grocery store.
Sure, rub it in. I'm picturing you posting this from a bathtub full of ripe mini-romanos that you're flame-roasting over a pile of smouldering hundred-dollar bills, you sonofabitch.
I live in Brandywine territory. They're not cheap, but they're plentiful from the Amish farms. They're also huge, so you better have a lot of sandwiches or salads right away! I like them for caprese salad with local fresh mozzarella. The Philadelphia region is a foodie paradise.
I live in Australia. The produce is generally good, but might as well be made of gold at the price we pay. "Truss tomatoes" aka hydroponic tomatoes sold on the vine cost between $3-5/lb here. Heirlooms are closer to $8/lb. You can buy Australian wine in Philly cheaper than I can at the vineyard.
Sheesh. I would hope everyone who has a yard grows their own? I expect if the various subsidies given to farms here were suspended (just waiting for the shitheads in charge to do it), our food prices would shoot up. Prices do rise and fall seasonally here.
There are a couple of months of relief when every second house in the Italian neighbourhoods put up their signs "si vendi pomodoro per salsa" and I can grab amazing romanos for cents on the dollar.
It's the hallmark of someone who never set foot in a grocery store or farmer's market and doesn't cook. In SF back in the mid 2010s, you could buy an entire flat of tomatoes (end of season in Sept. to be sure) for $10. They were DAMN good too. I used to can them and cook with them all winter.
