{"id":1109,"date":"2026-06-15T20:30:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T20:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=1109"},"modified":"2026-06-15T20:30:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T20:30:12","slug":"extreme-weather-makes-us-tomatoes-more-expensive-this-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=1109","title":{"rendered":"Extreme weather makes US tomatoes more expensive this summer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Juicy tomatoes are a summer staple often slipped into burgers or sliced atop a salad. But weather disruptions in two major growing regions have driven up prices for the vegetable, and consumers shouldn\u2019t expect much relief for their wallets in the months ahead.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis one was driven by the double whammy: the freeze in Florida and weather issues in Mexico, primarily drought,\u201d says David Branch, executive director of the Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute, which provides research and analysis on the food, beverage and agribusiness sectors. \u201cSupply is going to level out, prices are going to tweak down. But we\u2019re not going to have a huge supply increase\u201d big enough to push prices down substantially.<\/p>\n

U.S. tomato prices rose by about 40% between January and April, the biggest three-month increase since 2006, consumer price index data shows. While prices eased slightly last month, they remain more than 30% higher than a year ago. Some Mexican states, meanwhile, are reporting price increases of more than 100% from the prior year.<\/p>\n

Weather has long affected grocery store prices, but increasingly frequent bouts of extreme heat, drought and flooding are putting household budgets on the frontlines of climate change. As global warming intensifies, economists are expecting food-price shocks to become more common, raising the risk that higher grocery costs become a more enduring source of inflation.<\/p>\n

Tomatoes are the latest example of this, joining the ranks of staples like coffee and beef. The price hikes come at a time when spiraling anxiety about the cost of living is colliding with accelerating inflation, largely driven by higher energy costs related to the war with Iran.<\/p>\n

Other factors, too, are fueling the ongoing run-up in tomato prices. U.S. duties on Mexican imports and a peso that is appreciating in value have led farmers there to plant less tomato acreage. But back-to-back weather extremes are playing a major role.<\/p>\n

The US depends on imports for much of its tomato supply, and most of those \u2013 some 90% \u2013 come from Mexico. Drought conditions left less water for irrigation during the October and November planting season in Sinaloa, a key growing region. Then unseasonal rains in January exposed plants to early blight, fungal disease that thrives in wet conditions.<\/p>\n

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Florida, which supplies tomatoes in the early months of the year, was hit by winter storms in late December and January that the state\u2019s agriculture commissioner called \u201cone of the most damaging freeze events for Florida agriculture in history.\u201d An estimated 80% of the state\u2019s tomato production suffered losses, resulting in some $164 million in projected damages.<\/p>\n

As a result, wholesale prices for Roma tomatoes \u2014 which are largely grown in Mexico \u2014 and the mature green tomatoes often grown in Florida reached the highest levels in 25 years, says David Maga\u00f1a, a senior analyst covering fruits and vegetables for Rabobank. Prices also stayed high for the longest period on record \u2014 more than two months.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not every year that you have weather events impacting both regions in the same month,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Higher prices spread beyond Roma and mature green tomatoes. As consumers looked for other low-cost substitutes, prices rose for other types of slicing tomatoes and cherry tomatoes. So-called processing tomatoes that are used in shelf-stable products like canned tomatoes, tomato paste and tomato sauces are harvested in the late summer in central California and haven\u2019t been affected, Maga\u00f1a says.<\/p>\n

Costs are inching down as tomatoes from California and other parts of the U.S. reach local markets. But \u201cthrough June and through August, prices probably [are] going to stay above 2025 levels,\u201d Branch says. \u201cThey\u2019re not going to drop 23%.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Court and Naik write for Bloomberg. <\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A freeze in Florida and weather issues in Mexico drove prices higher earlier this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate"],"yoast_head":"\nExtreme weather makes US tomatoes more expensive this summer - California Relocation Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=1109\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Extreme weather makes US tomatoes more expensive this summer - California Relocation Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A freeze in Florida and weather issues in Mexico drove prices higher earlier this year.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=1109\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"California Relocation Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-15T20:30:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=1109#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=1109\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b85b48ca4c2015dd056e0e9c18912121\"},\"headline\":\"Extreme weather makes US tomatoes more expensive this summer\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-15T20:30:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=1109\"},\"wordCount\":667,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=1109#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/b0f72872c571bc616b014e2a8d370957-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Climate\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=1109#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=1109\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=1109\",\"name\":\"Extreme weather makes US tomatoes more expensive this summer - California Relocation Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=1109#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=1109#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/b0f72872c571bc616b014e2a8d370957-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-15T20:30:12+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=1109#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=1109\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=1109#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/b0f72872c571bc616b014e2a8d370957-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/b0f72872c571bc616b014e2a8d370957-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1833,\"caption\":\"SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 15: Fresh tomatoes are displayed on a shelf at Bob's Market on April 15, 2026 in Santa Monica, California. 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