Charles Rick, master tomato explorer and breeder. (Courtesy of University of California at Davis)

Rick began his tomato explorations in 1948 in South America, where the tomato originated. He brought back tomatoes with diverse traits and resistance, and those samples have been bred into commercial tomatoes all over the world.

As more than one commentator has pointed out, the value of foods that are native to the New World’s Southern hemisphere — foods such as tomatoes — far outweighs the gold that Spanish adventurers sought and stole from the ancient Indian empires.

In one case, when an infestation of nematodes struck the Peruvian tomato crop, resistant varieties were found in the collection at Davis and introduced in Peru — or, rather, they were re-introduced, since Charles Rick had collected the varieties in Peru years before. Rich died in 2002, at the age of 87.

A University of California report on Rick’s collection noted that previously used varieties of tomato plants had demonstrated resistance to at least thirty-two major tomato diseases, and that sixteen of those resistance characteristics had been bred into tomatoes that were important to commercial tomato production.

Tomato germplasm commands the respect of researcher and policy maker alike because there is such a direct connection between it and money. Worldwide, tomato production is greater than fifty-five million metric tons. That’s a lot of ketchup, soups, tomato paste, and tomato sauces, not to mention the whole tomatoes that are sold in supermarkets and that some people compare to eating cardboard. The number does not include the wonderful summertime tomatoes you can buy at roadside farmers’ stands, or grow in your own backyard.

Click the following links to lean about collecting of potatoes, pigeonpeas, and a maize that was once thought to be extinct. Or return to the previous page about explorers.

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