California-based West Coast Tomato Growers is anticipates double the amount of Oceanside Pole-branded Romas this season, as the company enters its third year of a marketing partnership with Vancouver's Oppy.

Oppy director for greenhouse and vegetable categories Aaron Quon is optimistic for the season ahead, praising the cooperation between the two companies.

"It’s going to be another great season. Our partnership has evolved beautifully over the last couple of years, blending our complementary expertise to deliver one of the strongest tomato programs in the industry," Quon said in a release.

Quon also said despite the strong business strategies of Oppy, much of the success is thanks to excellent quality tomatoes grown by Oceanside Pole grower Harry Singh.

"Several factors make Oceanside Pole tomatoes deserve their outstanding reputation. Mr. Singh starts with a proven seed variety, then employs the labor-intensive but highly effective pole method of growing each plant, which results in greater yields of robust, well-formed tomatoes."

"The sunny microclimate between the Pacific Ocean and the coastal mountains provides an optimal environment for the Singh family to apply its 70-plus years of growing experience to produce truly excellent tomatoes," he added.

West Coast Tomato Growers marketing coordinator Dick Keim said the season should run from June through to November.

"We plant in a way that spreads the production out over as many months as is optimal. With the assumption of normal climatic conditions, we’ll start harvesting vine-ripes sometime in the last week of June and Romas in August. The heaviest production will last July through October then naturally taper off," Keim said.

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