Bad Economics = Poor tasting tomatoes

The Arizona New tomato's ugly, but tasty: "Joe Procacci's tomatoes may taste great, but the Florida Tomato Committee says they're just too ugly"

I saw this on ABC News yesterday. What an outrage!! The short version:

Joe Procacci is a Florida farmer/saleperson. He has "developed" a tomato that looks and tastes much like many heirloom tomatoes that home gardeners grow. He calls his tomato the UglyRipe.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1209Tomatoes-ON.html

The problem? The Florida Tomato committee says the tomatoes can not be sold out of state because they look ugly and that consumers would not buy them. And the ugly tomatoes would hurt the reputation of other Florida Tomato growers.

"Growers complain that Procacci's UglyRipes could wreck the reputation of Florida tomatoes. To allow misshapen and blemished tomatoes could open the way for a flood of ugly tomatoes to hit the market, says Reggie Brown, the tomato committee's manager." Yahoo News

Uh, folks, let's apply some economics here. If there is demand for the ugly tomatoes becuase of their taste, my guess is that people would eat them! And just for the record, it's taste, not looks that matters when it comes to tomatoes!

More than likely the real reason for the The Florida Tomato Commission's crackdown, is that allowing the UgliRipes to sell would be somewhat of an admission that winter tomatoes are not as tasty as summer (homegrown) tomatoes. And more importantly would put other farmers at a competitive disadvantage.

The loser in this? The non Florida consumer who can not buy what they want.

The firm has established a site to protest the rules (see the added comment below as well). I am not sure what we can do as a small store (probably nothing), but I would personally I am pretty sure I will be buying hydroponic tomatoes (which not only taste better but do not come from Florida).