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Tomatoes - Benfica do Ribatejo, Portugal

Executive Summary

Soil testing for nutrients is undertaken prior to the planting of tomatoes to ensure the correct level of fertiliser is applied.
Seeds selection – HeinzSeeds identifies and develops tomato varieties best suited to the target environment and climatic conditions. This results in optimal yield with minimal resources input, leading to sustainable farming best practice. Benfica do Ribatejo plants these adapted tomato varieties.
Traps for fruitworm are used to monitor occurrence. Once threshold levels have been reached a programme of control is put into place. Capturing these pests also identifies which stage of their lifecycle the fruitworm is at and therefore the most effective treatment can be used.
Sprayer calibration ensures that expensive crop protection products are placed accurately onto the crop and avoids over-application which can be environmentally damaging.

Drip irrigation is used to ensure that water is used in an efficient and effective manner.
Testing of irrigation water for nitrates and pesticides and soil testing for heavy metals ensures that the tomatoes are produced to the highest levels of food safety, ensuring consumer health is protected at all times

The farm is part of a joint collaboration of 46 farms (Producer/Grower Organisation), with a total area of 1500 hectares. This allows the farm access to professional plant technologists who are able to give help and advice with fertiliser, plant protection product applications and water use. The Producer/Grower Organisation deals directly with the tomato processor allowing for a close association which benefits both the individual farmers and the processor.
The Producer/Grower Organisation deals directly with the processor, and a contract to supply is drawn up between the two parties. The Producer/Grower Organisation then organises the farms within the group to ensure that the supply criteria of the contract is met, allowing the farms to achieve a good return for their tomatoes.
The farm invests in larger and more technically-advanced equipment which allows for quick harvesting of up to 25 tonnes per hour. Faster harvesting allows for improved crop quality.
A Quality Crop Book provides extensive crop record keeping from soil preparation to harvesting, ensuring all crop inputs and management events are captured, enabling traceability of all harvested tomatoes.

A positive list of plant protection products that can be used by the farm is developed annually between the Producer/Grower Organisation and the processor.

Improved management techniques and the use of hybrid varieties have helped increase average yields by over 50% in the last 10 years whilst input costs have remained in check.