The Crop That Built a County

As fall rolls in and Florida’s fields start to hum with the first tomato plantings of the season, it’s worth remembering that tomatoes aren’t just a side dish in Manatee County. They’re a cornerstone of our local history.

Tomato farming has been big business in these parts since the 1880s, when one clever farmer realized that a green tomato, if picked at just the right stage, would ripen on its own thanks to natural ethylene gas. According to a 1993 document by the Manatee County Historical Society, Joel Hendricks discovered this purely by accident, wrapping green tomatoes in newspaper and leaving them on a windowsill. Two weeks later, he unwrapped bright red fruit, ripe and ready for market.

That stroke of genius kicked off a trade route that stretched from our sun-drenched soil to snowy New York City. Tomatoes were packed into barrels, sent up the Manatee River by boat, transferred to rail in Cedar Key, and finally unloaded on northern docks just in time to brighten up winter menus. It was Manatee County’s first taste of agricultural fame, and we’ve had tomato juice running through our veins ever since.

By the 1890s, prosperity was growing alongside the crops. Hammock land, oak-dotted and palmetto-free patches of fertile soil, was cleared by hand, and artesian wells bubbled up sweet irrigation water without the need for pumps. Families who owned just ten acres of productive land in places like Terra Ceia or Ellenton were considered the equivalent of modern-day millionaires. “The most valuable land in the United States for winter vegetables,” the document says, “was right here in Manatee County.”

But it wasn’t all sunshine and spaghetti sauce. The 1920s brought plant diseases like the ominously named “nail head rust,” followed by the 1928 hurricane and shortly after, the Great Depression. Many growers lost crops, land, and sometimes everything. Still, the spirit of innovation never wilted.

By the 1950s, local growers like Blake Whisenant were ushering in the modern age of tomato farming. According to the same 1993 historical society document, Whisenant’s family pioneered plastic mulch technology and even developed water-saving techniques that dramatically reduced waste. He dreamed of one day growing tomatoes in containers using recycled plastic and a fraction of the water, a vision that resulted in the invention of the Earthbox.

So as fall tomato season gets underway and the fields around us green up with new life, remember that these little red fruits are more than just sandwich fillers. They’re heirlooms of hard work, ingenuity, and a deep connection to the land.

Whether you’re slicing one up for a BLT or planting a vine in your own backyard, you’re taking part in a legacy that has been more than a century in the making.

And that’s something worth chewing on.