Source: Ximena Bustillo, POLITICO, 9/30/21


For Tony DiMare, who manages two large tomato farms in Florida for his 93-year-old family-run company, the timing of the Covid-19 pandemic couldn’t have been worse. DiMare’s farms produce millions of tomatoes each season, most of it aimed at food service — the hamburgers, sandwiches and salads served in schools, restaurants and on cruise ships. In Florida’s year-round warmth, March and April are harvest time. So in spring 2020, as states around the country started imposing lockdowns and schools and restaurants closed for what would turn out to be months, DiMare was left with no one to buy his tomatoes just as they were hitting peak ripeness.

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