Russell Ranch Tomato Harvest

The Russell Ranch tomato harvest has many facets. Tomatoes are harvested by hand for fruit and vine yield measurements, as well as fruit and vine archive material. The tomato fruits and vines are dried and ground for the long-term archives. Tomato archives are analyzed for elemental content and nutritional content (see nutritional research here). Four rows in the one-acre fields are then machine-harvested for yield measurements. Then, all tomatoes are machine-harvested and sold to a local cannery and will eventually become ketchup. Students are involved in taking measurements, data analysis as well as a tomato gleaning event in 2009.

This year some of the tomatoes are being sold to the UC Davis Dining Service to make a tomato sauce with all local ingredients. More information (including recipes) will be posted soon.

Watch this video to see some of the tomato harvest!