Howell Farms began raising processing tomatoes for Red Gold, Inc in 1995.  Over the past 20 years, a concentrated effort has been made to implement, expand and sustain fruit and vegetable production on a scale that would account for at least half of the farm's total revenue, even as the total operations were growing. This goal was achieved in the production year of 2005. We have been able to successfully expand our tomato operation from 80 acres in 1995 to over 400 acres today.

    Tomatoes are a labor intensive crop and put great demands on us as they require a great deal of attention.  They are transplanted in May and early June with a 5 twin-row transplanter that David built.  Once transplanted, a rigorous spray schedule ensues.  Each acre of tomatoes receives a prescribed application every 7 days.  In addition to the predesigned spray schedule, at any given time, tomatoes may require an unplanned pesticide application, as they are extremely susceptible to bacterial and fungal diseases.  Intense field scouting is required from the time the plants are planted until they are harvested, which begins in early August and concludes in Mid October.

    For our tomato harvest we use a Pik Rite HC290 harvester, which is capable of harvesting 60 to 80 tons per hour. Our harvester is equipped with a 48” NFM Odenberg color sorter.  In a typical year, we load 500 to 550 loads of tomatoes in 2 1/2 months.  The tomato trailers are pulled through the field by 4-wheel drive tractors and are loaded on the move by the harvester which does not stop in between trailers.  The full trailers are then hauled to one of three Red Gold factories, located in Orestes, Elwood, and Geneva, Indiana.  Please view the videos below to see the harvester in action.  

    An added benefit of tomato production is that our best corn yields are typically found in fields that were planted in tomatoes the previous year!  If you are interested in learning more about our tomato production please contact Adam Howell.