Harvest heartbreak - Farmer sold only 80 pounds of tomatoes from his 8,000-pound crop

Standing on the roadside in Red Bank, St Elizabeth, 56-year-old farmer Linton Simpson paused, drew a long breath, and gazed down at the land below.

"See it yah," he said quietly, leading the way down a slope into a concrete structure thick with the sour stench of rotting tomatoes.

Inside, he pointed to a bare room, its floor stained by the remains of spoiled produce. "This is where I had to store some, mi give away some, and dem affi throw away the rest," Simpson shared, his voice heavy with resignation.

Out on the farm, the story only worsened. He guided THE STAR to a section where heaps of tomatoes had been dumped, left to decay under the sun. On his roughly five-acre property--three of which are under cultivation--Simpson said the yield should have been a blessing.

"Overall mi would get about 8,000 to 10,000 pounds, and as mi seh, is only 80 pound me sell," Simpson said.

Carefully navigating the rows, he stepped over fruit in every state--firm and ready, overripe, or already spoiled. Though the loss is clear, Simpson has chosen to let what remains continue growing until he is ready to clear the land.

He explained that about an acre of his land is currently under tomatoes, with a continuous rotation system that keeps production steady, maintaining between 5,000 and 6,000 planting holes so that as one crop finishes, another is already coming in.

But consistency in production has not translated into profit.

Across the island, farmers who rebuilt after the devastation of Hurricane Melissa last October are now grappling with a harsh reality--too much produce and not enough buyers. For Simpson, the situation has been especially dire. He said that only a solitary buyer has purchased tomatoes from him this crop.

"It's one person," he said. "I don't get no other market."

Simpson said the person bought 80 pounds of tomatoes. He doesn't even remembers the price, but knows it is nothing to talk about. Tomatoes are being sold in the markets for as low as $50 per pound, and $10 at farm gate.

Simpson is thankful to have made the sale.

"I have to give thanks because my daughter did need book and pencil, and she used that to buy them," he shared.

Despite the disappointment, Simpson is determined to turn his fortunes around. He has already started planting again. Farming, he said, is all he knows.

"Mi farm straight ahead, not one time a year," he said. "A planter plants one time a year, a farmer farms right through the year."

Nearby, he pointed to another struggling crop--watermelons, stunted and weighing barely two pounds.

"It carries a disease, you have to be really lucky," he said. "It's a long time mi nuh make it with melons, but you still have try because the price is up there, but you can't get the crop," he said.

For Simpson, the blows have come one after the other--first Hurricane Melissa, then drought, and now a market that has all but collapsed.

"Nuff night I feel like stop because I fed up, and I have my daughter going to school," he said.

Still, he refuses to give up.

"I am hoping, that's all I can say," he responded when asked about seeing his fortunes change for the next crop. "They say never say don't when you need something, so I am hoping for a turnaround."