Get ready to pay more for tomatoes, as California growers reel from extreme weather

Prices were already on the rise. In April, processing tomatoes worldwide were 7 percent more expensive than during three previous seasons, according to the World Processing Tomato Council. And before this summer’s heat wave struck, the California Tomato Growers Association had negotiated a price on behalf of farmers with the tomato processors that is 5.6 percent higher than last growing season, because, as Muller says, farmers’ expenses are rising: “Supplies, fuel, drip tape, anything with steel, you name it, it’s going up.”