A break in the season's toil

By WAYNE WASHINGTON

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 22, 2000

WIMAUMA -- A skeleton crew worked over the tomatoes Wednesday, 12 or so people before a stand-up fan in a hot shed, separating the bad ones from the ones that will be boxed and sent on their way.

For the workers, a week off is just around the corner, a reward for long days and weeks of bringing in some of Florida's ever-bountiful produce.

For Dean Diehl, the experiment rolls on.

The tomatoes boxed Wednesday were grown without the chemicals typically used to kill insects and disease. It's a bit of a risk, diving into the still-small "organic" market, and that's why Diehl, 36, is just putting his toe in. For now, anyway.

Mostly, he grows his tomatoes the way everybody else in eastern Hillsborough County does. And this year, he got hammered as the drought altered the picking schedule, forcing much of the crop to be brought in at the same time. That flooded the market and kept per-pound prices low.

"We never got more than 20 cents per pound on conventionals," he said.

Growers can spend as much as $7,000 per acre putting a crop in, Diehl said, not offering how much exactly he spent or how many acres he owns. He was clear on just how much growers can lose in bad years such as this.

"All of it," he said.

Standing in the shed, his tomatoes being packaged for shipment to such places as Chicago, Boston and Maryland, it's clear Diehl would rather not talk about how tough this year has been. Getting out, though, that's not something he's considering.

Farming is in his blood. His father is a grower, and now he is one.

He grew up in eastern Hillsborough, played with and went to school with the children of other growers. It's an insular, competitive world. Some of those old friends and classmates are now competitors in the dwindling ranks of family growers. No one talks too much about the details of their business.

So Diehl watches as his workers wipe clean the last of his crop and makes small talk with others who have come to see.

The workers joke with each other in Spanish but are otherwise silent. Their hands never stop moving.

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