Tomato shortage could cause slight increase in meal prices

House Editorial

Those of you who can eat a tomato like an apple with a little sprinkle of salt on top are in big trouble. Ever since the hurricanes trampled through Florida a few months ago, tomatoes are rare commodities and the national shortage is affecting everyone from Los Angeles to Harrisonburg — JMU included.

Dining Services purchased 180,180 pounds of tomatoes last year — about 16.37 pounds per student with a meal plan, said Clete Myers, director of Dining Services. (This semester, 11,006 students bought meal plans.) That’s a whole lot of tomatoes.

The market price of tomatoes has more than doubled from $1.49 per pound to $3 per pound, USA Today reported. That means students with meal plans usually pay about $25 a year for their tomatoes, but the increase will now make it $50. That is, if Dining Services decides to increase the meal plans for next year due to this shortage.

Fair enough, Dining Services. Buy our tomatoes for twice the cost and we’ll pay for them — that is how it works in the world of supply and demand. Students shouldn’t be frugal if they have to shell out an extra $25 for their meal plans. Then, if you add in a few other foods that are getting a bit expensive, such as poultry, expect a couple of bucks tacked onto the $25. But don’t be fooled — if Dining Services cranks out a $100 increase, you have a right to be angry.

It doesn’t seem fair that the hands of Mother Nature can reach across the states and take money from our bank accounts, but because Florida supplies 40 percent of the world’s tomato cravings, its resources are spread thin. Italy comes in second as a world supplier with 16 percent, according to the Department of Agriculture.

This holiday season, think of the tomatoes. They’re red, after all.