Oceanside Pole vine-ripe season starts strong
OCEANSIDE, Calif. — The much-anticipated Oceanside Pole tomato season has arrived right on schedule, just in time for lucky consumers to enjoy the cleanest-slicing tomatoes available during July holiday celebrations.
First shipments of the legendary vine-ripes rolled away from Oceanside on June 27, following an excellent growing season for the esteemed Southern California tomato producer Harry Singh Jr.
With twice as many Romas as last year in the plans, as well as new acreage planted in Mr. Singh’s signature vine-ripe seed, West Coast Tomato Growers and The Oppenheimer Group are entering the third year of their marketing partnership with high expectations.
“Over the last 70 years, Mr. Singh’s family has perfected the art and science of growing tomato plants on poles, yielding uniquely good-tasting and long-lasting tomatoes,” said Mark Smith, the senior sales representative who leads Oppy’s marketing strategy for Oceanside Pole. “When you blend that with our hands-on approach to quality assurance, sales and logistics, we offer Oceanside Pole customers an unparalleled advantage in the summer tomato category.”
Oppy staff members relocate to Oceanside throughout the season, working hand-in-glove with the team at West Coast Tomato to assure customer expectations are consistently met and exceeded, Smith said.
“Together, we’ve refined our color staging practices to assure the tomatoes we ship will match our customers’ arrival specifications every time,” Smith said. “We offer this considerable benefit to help our customers optimize their results on this popular highly seasonal item, and have found that it drives consistent repeat sales.”
The vine-ripe harvest is well underway, and the first Romas will be picked in August. Both will be available into November.
