A tomato growing project is designed to uncover each variety’s unique characteristics while also revealing its origins and breeding history.
Seeds of Diversity Canada, which launched the Canadian Tomato Project, has 80 growers across Canada involved this year and wants to see more than 100 participating next year, said the group’s president Jim Ternier.
“We want to save seeds and make them available to others,” said Ternier.
Seed companies like to sell new varieties and generally offer fewer kinds to meet the demands of the greatest number of gardeners, he said.
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In addition, most garden tomato breeding now is focused on American gardens. As a result, several varieties bred years ago are difficult to find.
Ternier said gardeners in the project make observations on factors such as how the tomatoes grow, growing conditions, fruit quality and flavour.
The project is expected to run five years or longer, said Ternier, who is growing 24 varieties at St. Peter’s Abbey in Muenster, Sask.
Ternier, who is a farmer and seed grower, splits his time between Muenster and his home farm at Cochin, Sask.
A tomato is considered Canadian if bred in Canada at sites such as Swift Current, Sask., Summerland, B.C., or Ottawa or grown in Canada for long enough to have adapted to local growing conditions.
Already more than 100 varieties have been identified, with most developed by Agriculture Canada between 1890 and 1980.
Seeds of Diversity is a Canadian charitable organization with 1,700 members dedicated to the conservation, documentation and use of vegetables, fruit, grains, flowers and herbs.
For more information, visit www.seeds.ca/proj/tomato/.
