An Economic Analysis of Two Grafted Tomato Transplant Production Systems in the United States

Abstract

<jats:p>The grafting of herbaceous vegetables is an emerging development in the United States. This report provides an estimate of the variable costs of grafting within U.S. tomato (<jats:italic>Solanum lycopersicum</jats:italic>) transplant production systems. Grafted and nongrafted plants were propagated at two commercial farming operations in Ivanhoe, NC (NC) and Strasburg, PA (PA) and the farm in NC produced certified organic transplants. Detailed economic production sequences were generated for each site, and grafted and nongrafted transplant production costs were $0.59 and $0.13 in NC, and $1.25 and $0.51 in PA, respectively. Direct costs associated with grafting (e.g., grafting labor, clips, chamber, etc.) accounted for 37% to 38% of the added cost of grafting, and grafting labor was 11.1% to 14.4% of the cost of grafted transplant production. Seed costs represented 52% and 33% of the added cost of grafting at the two sites, and indirect costs (e.g., soil, trays, and heating) accounted for 10% and 30% of the added cost of grafting. Our findings suggest that under current seed prices and with similar production practices, the feasibility of grafting in the United States is not disproportionately affected by domestic labor costs. Additionally, the economic models presented in this report identify the cost of production at various transplant stages, and provide a valuable tool for growers interested in grafted tomato transplant production and utilization.</jats:p>

Economic Analysis of Grafted Tomato Production in Sandy Soils in Northern Florida

“…Such a price difference was consistent with that reported by Barrett et al (2012b) on grafted organic heirloom tomato transplants using the 'Multifort' rootstock. Similarly, estimated costs were $0.59 and $0.13 per plant for grafted and nongrafted tomato transplants, respectively, in a commercial farming operation in North Carolina (Rivard et al, 2010b). In contrast, Besri (2003) reported only a 1-fold increase of tomato transplant price with grafting in Morocco (i.e., $0.19 and $0.38 per plant for nongrafted and grafted tomato transplants, respectively).…”

“…However, the high cost of grafted transplants still remains the major concern limiting the adoption of grafting by vegetable growers, especially large-scale open-field producers (Kubota et al, 2008;Lee et al, 2010). In addition to the costs of rootstock seeds, grafted transplant production requires investment in space, supplies and materials, and labor for making and healing the grafts, which ultimately increases the costs of grafted vegetable production (Barrett et al, 2012b;Rivard et al, 2010b). For example, estimated prices for grafted tomato transplants ranged from $0.59 to $1.88 as opposed to $0.13 to $0.76 for nongrafted plants in two transplant production operations in the United States (Rivard et al, 2010b).…”

Overcoming biotic and abiotic stresses in the Solanaceae through grafting: current status and future perspectives

“…Tomato yields were substantially increased over the self-grafted and non-grafted controls and enabled commercially acceptable production from fields infested with R. solanacearum. Rivard et al (2010) conducted studies assessing the additional costs of grafting in the USA. The cost of grafting per seedling was about four to five times the cost of a standard seedling ($0.59 compared with $0.13) in North Carolina and higher, though with the same cost ratio, in Pennsylvania.…”

Conventional Industrial Robotics Applied to the Process of Tomato Grafting Using the Splicing Technique

“…Estimated average cost distribution for a grafted plant. Average data assessed according to data collected in nurseries in Almería (Spain), [6,7].…”