On Monday, December 9, as part of the Citizen Science project, we visited Julia’s farm, a member of Minka, where we shared observations on the development of various tomato varieties she is growing. These varieties are part of the collection of heirloom tomatoes rescued by the Genetics Department at the School of Agronomy of the University of Buenos Aires and linked to the project “Rescuing the Heirloom Tomato.”

In addition, Julia cultivates around 10 of her own varieties, which she has collected and preserved over the years. We also evaluated these varieties!

The day began with a visit to the orchard area, where the 30 citrus trees she planted this season are growing very well. In a few years, she will have a significant fruit production to add to the diversity of her farm.

We then moved on to the greenhouse where the tomatoes are transplanted. This greenhouse had been destroyed by severe storms in early 2024 and, thanks to the joint efforts of Bioleft and Minka, it was repaired and made ready for this growing season. Julia told us that, at this time of year, she starts working inside the greenhouse very early because the heat becomes much more intense and makes the tasks more difficult. Right now, they are installing irrigation hoses over raised beds where peppers will later be transplanted.

During the visit, we observed the plant development, including height and foliage, as well as the development of flowers and fruits, which have already started to be harvested. We also monitored the presence of pests and diseases, which tend to appear more frequently at this time of year.

Thanks to Julia’s hard work and dedication, all the tomato plants are very well established. They look vigorous and healthy. Julia has been performing axillary pruning to regulate the excessive growth of the plants. If you want to learn more about pruning, we invite you to watch this video.

Some pests were detected, mainly the Tomato Hornworm, which feeds on the leaves and weakens the plant, but they did not become a major problem. We also spotted a few stink bugs during the visit, so we will need to keep an eye out for them in future check-ups.

Bicho Moro y ninfas de Chinche Verde – (Autor: Patricio Devoto)

The heirloom tomato varieties from the 2023 collection are doing very well, with the Perita No. 67 and No Me Olvides varieties standing out for their plant development, the latter already in the fruiting stage.
In total, the number of plants successfully grown for each variety is: 5 plants of Perita No. 18, 6 plants of Perita No. 20, 4 plants of Perita No. 67, and 16 plants of No Me Olvides.

As for Julia’s own tomato varieties, they are also doing very well, with many already in the fruiting stage, such as the Green Tomato, Peach Tomato, Black Cherry, and some already being harvested, like the Red Egg Cherry.
With a total of 9 different varieties, the number of plants successfully grown for each variety is: 16 plants of Black Cherry; 15 plants of Green Tomato; 5 plants of Pata Negra Tomato; 14 plants of Red Egg Cherry Tomato; 10 plants of White Cherry Tomato; 4 plants of Feo de Tudela Tomato; 10 plants of Peach Tomato; 6 plants of Yellow Tomato; and 12 plants of Large White Tomato.

The second batch of heirloom tomatoes, part of the collaborative evaluation project “Rescuing the Heirloom Tomato”, and transplanted in early November (11/7), have been developing under optimal conditions.
It’s worth remembering that the 2024 collection for these varieties faced some difficulties during germination.
In total, the number of plants successfully grown for each variety is: 1 plant of La Piqui variety (one plant was lost after transplanting), 5 plants of Aimé variety, and 4 plants of No Me Olvides variety.
Additionally, Julia is evaluating 3 plants of the heirloom perita tomato variety “Ronita”.

The visit continued at the nursery, where Julia keeps more tomato varieties that she exchanges at the market she attends every weekend with her vegetables, succulents, seedlings, and seeds.
She showed us some of the varieties: Lágrima de Oro Tomato, Reina de la Noche Tomato, and Black Beautiful Tomato.

We thank Julia for welcoming us to her farm and for her commitment to participatory breeding.

If, like Julia, you’d like to take part in this and other projects, we invite you to contact us through our social media channels.

On Tuesday, November 5th, we visited Julia, a member of the Agroecological Minka seed production cooperative, at her farm located in Florencio Varela. There, Julia is evaluating tomato varieties linked to the “Al rescate del tomate criollo” project. 

Touring the farm, Julia told us that, with the idea of diversifying production, she had recently planted a fruit orchard near the greenhouses. In total, there are 10 lemon trees, 10 mandarin trees, 5 juice orange trees, and 5 navel orange trees. 

We continued our journey to the greenhouse where she has transplanted the first batch of heirloom tomatoes, sown in early August (6/8); plus some of her own tomatoes that she has been cultivating for years, sown at the end of July (29/7).

In mid-October (12/10), she transplanted her own tomatoes. In total, 5 Black Cherry plants; 15 Green Tomato plants; 5 Black Leg plants; 14 Red Egg Cherry plants; 10 White Cherry plants; 4 Feo de Tudea plants; 10 Peach Tomato plants; 11 Black Cherry plants; and 12 Large White plants. More than 80 diverse tomato plants! 

A few days later (14/10), she transplanted the creole tomatoes, 2023 harvest, which belong to the same collection of tomatoes evaluated in the “R Al rescate del tomate criollo ” project. In total, 5 Pear Tomato No. 18 plants; 6 Pear Tomato No. 20 plants; 4 Pear Tomato No. 67 plants; and 16 Don’t Forget Me No. 56 plants. 

After touring the greenhouse, we went to the seedling area where she has, in individual containers, the second batch of creole tomatoes ready to be transplanted. These tomatoes, belonging to the collaborative evaluation project “Al rescate del tomate criollo” were sown at the beginning of September (2/9) and, as in several of the other experiences in this campaign, had difficulties germinating. 

In total, she has to transplant in the coming days 4 Don’t Forget Me No. 56 seedlings; 5 Aimé Tomato No. 7 seedlings; 2 La Piqui Tomato No. 172 seedlings; and 3 Pear Tomato “Ronita” seedlings, also evaluated at the COPA site in Guernica. 

We thank Julia for her passion and willingness to cultivate tomatoes. May it be a great year! 

If, like the Minka colleagues, you are interested in participatory improvement, do not hesitate to contact us through our social media accounts or by email. 

 On Friday, October 25th, we carried out a transplant day at the Cooperative of Agroecological Production (COPA) in Guernica, Buenos Aires province. There, together with Minka, we evaluated the behavior of one of the heirloom tomato varieties rescued by FAUBA. 

 It is a pear-shaped heirloom tomato called “Ronita.” The seeds of this variety were multiplied and provided by the Gorina Experimental Station, which depends on the Ministry of Agrarian Development of the province of Buenos Aires. 

 At the beginning of September (01/09), 36 seeds were sown in “speedling” trays, along with the other three varieties of heirloom tomatoes (7, 56, and 172) that are being evaluated collectively as part of the “Rescuing the Heirloom Tomato” project. 

A few days later, the Ronita variety began to emerge, reaching 100% germination after 20 days after sowing (20/9). It should be noted that, in the same period, the rest of the heirloom varieties had not yet germinated.  

 At the end of a month, the seedlings had reached the necessary size and robustness to be transplanted.   

The transplant day was attended by Paula, Agustina, and Luai from Minka; and Román from Bioleft. We began with a beautiful ceremony around the sowing of two varieties of corn, “Maíz chipá” and “Maíz Mezdi,” after weeding and working the soil. 

 After sowing, we moved to the tomato sector. There, the land was already prepared to receive the seedlings. There are 2 ridges 7 meters long to which “bokashi” (an organic fertilizer, enriched with minerals, produced from the fermentation of organic materials) and cow manure were added as a fertility booster. 

 These ridges are located in the same sector that was used in the previous campaign for the evaluation of the Ox-Heart tomato and have drip irrigation. 

 A total of 31 pear-shaped heirloom tomato “Ronita” seedlings were transplanted at a distance of 50 cm between plants in a linear form, interspersed with basil seedlings. 

 After transplanting, there was some rainfall, which was very good for achieving a good establishment of the seedlings. 

We thank Minka for their interest and willingness to work together. We hope that this campaign will be very fruitful! 

On Tuesday, July 11, Bioleft coordinated the closing workshop for the 2022-23 collaborative tomato evaluation campaign, with the participation of over 20 evaluators.

During the event, the projects “Al rescate del tomate criollo” [To the rescue of creole tomato] and “Código TomATe” [Tomato Code] presented their goals and projections.

We also shared the conclusions of the 2022-23 evaluation campaign and some participants had the opportunity to share their experiences and learnings. 

Subsequently, we opened a space for everyone present to collaborate in identifying areas for improvement in the evaluation process, aiming to enhance the data collection sheets for the next campaign. The goal is to make them easier to complete while keeping the evaluation objectives in mind. 

Finally, everyone was invited to engage in the new 2023-24 collaborative evaluation campaign. This time, all participants will receive the same three varieties from the “Al rescate del tomate criollo” project to ensure a greater number of repetitions when analyzing the data. 

¡We appreciate everyone for their commitment and participation! 

From Bioleft, we have been working with the project “To the rescue of the criollo tomato” of the FAUBA Chair of Genetics for about 4 years. In the 2022-2023 campaign, they proposed to redistribute seeds again and that those who receive them also evaluate them and share their observations, especially the organoleptic characteristics. Once again, we decided to accompany the project in the follow-up of the evaluation and also this time the project “CódiGo TomATe” from the National University of Rosario also joined the proposal.

During August 2022, those who wanted to receive seeds from the project “Al rescate del tomate criollo” and “Código TomATe” were invited to evaluate their crops and share their experience. For this, we opened a form to withdraw seeds at the Faculty of Agronomy of the UBA and another to request the shipment of seeds to locations outside the AMBA. The call exceeded expectations, with 689 people registering to collect seeds and 271 to deliver them. In total, seeds were delivered to 588 people, in September to 317 people who came to pick them up at the fair and between September and November to the 271 who were outside the AMBA (90 in Buenos Aires, 5 in Catamarca, 6 in Chubut, 51 in Córdoba, 17 in Entre Ríos, 3 in La Rioja, 5 in Mendoza, 3 in Misiones, 10 in Neuquén, 13 in Río Negro, 4 in Salta, 5 in San Luis, 45 in Santa Fe, 2 in Santa Cruz and 12 in Tucuman).

The evaluation was carried out through worksheets that had been previously co-designed between Bioleft and farmers, and agreed with those who lead the tomato projects. To explain the objective of the campaign and the evaluation methodology, an introductory virtual workshop was held on August 29, which was also recorded and available on YouTube for those who could not attend (part 1 and part 2). The video-tutorials on tomato cultivation that we had published on YouTube the previous year (part 1 and part 2) were also made available. Those who received seeds were also added to a WhatsApp group where they could share their doubts about cultivation and evaluation. Follow-up through emails was also reinforced.

At the end of the crops, 48 participants had completed the evaluation completely, reaching the final stage of tasting. Of these, 29 belong to AMBA, 9 to Buenos Aires, 1 to Chubut, 1 to Córdoba, 1 to Neuquén, 3 to Río Negro, 1 to San Luis, 1 to Santa Fe and 2 to Tucumán. In other words, the number of people who evaluated those who received seeds, in proportion for each zone, was: 9.14% in AMBA, 10% in Buenos Aires, 16% in Chubut, 1.96% in Córdoba, 10% in Neuquén, 23.08% in Río Negro, 20% in San Luis, 2.22% in Santa Fe and 16.67% in Tucumán.

They evaluated 37 different varieties (35 from Al rescate del tomate criollo and 2 from “Código TomATe”), of which 5 criollo tomatoes were repeated at least 9 times (#67, #80, #90, #97 and #115). Seeds sown and emerged were recorded, with which the germination power of each variety could be calculated on average. They noted the dates on which they emerged, flowered and were harvested for the first time, allowing an approximation of the cycle of each variety to be obtained. They evaluated from 1 to 5 the tolerance of the plants against drought and sunburn, health and uniformity. They also tasted them and scored them from 1 to 9 (where 1 = disliked very much, 5 = neither liked nor disliked, and 9 = liked very much). The returns were not taken into account because their registration brought complications to the vast majority of the participants. Below is a table with the average values of the variables mentioned.

These data, added to those obtained in previous campaigns, were useful for the project as they contributed to the characterization of each variety. For the next campaign, the objective is to redistribute seeds, but only of 3 varieties (#7, #56 and #172), which are on their way to being registered in the INaSe National Register of Cultivars, in order to have many more repetitions and thus obtain a much more robust characterization of them.

In addition, the WhatsApp group not only continued to circulate information about the behavior of tomatoes, their tasting, and photos, but also the participants commented that they are multiplying the seeds and have offered to share them with those who have received different varieties. Thus, a network of seed guardians begins to form, fulfilling one of the objectives of the FAUBA project, which is that the seeds remain in active circulation.

These 48 participants carried out very valuable evaluations but, especially, we want to highlight the participation of Gabriela Angaut, who carried out a very detailed evaluation not only of the varieties received in this campaign but also of those of a previous one, of which she had multiplied seeds; in total there were 9 varieties. She is also one of the people who continued to multiply this year and offers them to her companions. We thank her for her commitment and also all the participants and those who made this evaluation possible. The learning and exchanges that they gave us will allow the projects to continue growing. Next, we share a few words from Gabriela about her tomato experience:

I have always maintained that one of the most revolutionary attitudes that a person can have is to produce their own food. So the garden has been part of my existence since I can remember.
I was born and raised in Patagonia and I live in Dina Huapi, a town of 7,000 inhabitants located on the east coast of Lake Nahuel Huapi, before reaching Bariloche.
When in 2020, during the isolation due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the proposal came to me to become the guardian of the Creole tomato, of the Al Rescate del Tomate Criollo Program and I did not hesitate to join.
I received seeds of 3 varieties, round 63, perita 86 and (as a control) UCO18, around October or November, so I decided to sow for the 21/22 season, since the climate in this area is adverse, it is cold, and I knew that I was not going to be able to complete the cycle, even when I grow the tomatoes in a greenhouse.
I managed to get the plants to develop optimally and I obtained a good harvest from which I saved seed.
The flavor, color and aroma of the fruits motivated me to request again seeds from the program, and I offered myself to be a reception and distribution node in the region where I live. I received 3 more varieties, different from the ones I had, and another 3 from a colleague who could not pick them up.
With the accompaniment of the technicians of the program through the various channels offered by virtuality, I obtained an abundant harvest and saved seeds of the 9 varieties, and thus continue multiplying and exchanging to produce.
I am glad to be part of this network, since we not only recover the flavor of the tomato but also share experiences and knowledge that help us to continue cultivating.
I also highlight the initiative and drive of the technicians and scientists trained at state universities, who without their work and dedication this would not have been possible.
For me it was and is a delight for the palate and pampering the soul.
Let’s go for more!

Gabriela Angaut, 59 years, docente jubilada