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The presence of workers, which used
to be common in the industrial tomato
fields, have now given way to mechanized
and semi-mechanized systems. The cred-
it of this change goes to the migration of
workers to the cities and the ever-increas-
ing labor-related benefits. Just like manu-
al work, many other practices have been
left behind, giving way to technological
breakthroughs that contribute with the
entire supply chain. Furthermore, the
drip irrigation system is gaining momen-
tum, along with the use of hybrid seed,
mechanized transplanting, no-till plant-
ing and integrated production.
According to Boiteux, Ph.D. in genetics
and plant enhancement, like tomatoes for
processing, many novelties have been in-
corporated to this crop in terms of fresh
sales over the past years, in particular, ge-
netically engineered tomatoes more resis-
tant and adapted to local conditions. Be-
sides the agricultural practices, all aimed at
lush harvests and good quality fruit, Boit-
eux maintains that growers are paying heed
to market trends, seeking new commercial-
ization channels, so as not to lose money.
Contrary to the industrial sector, the culti-
vation of this type of tomato is common all
over the national territory.
TRANSGENICS INSIGHT
Followingon theheels of the tomato
supply chain, researcher Leonardo Boit-
euxmaintains that transgenics could be
used with the target to come up with
healthier products for the Brazilian peo-
ple. In his words, from a genetic stand-
point, this is a practice that has been
carried out by nature for thousands of
years by a soil-borne bacterium known
as Agrobacterium tumefaciens – which
possesses the ability to transfer a part
of its DNA to a vegetable cell that is in-
fecting, inducing it to produce the com-
pounds needed for its development.
“Science only utilizes this ability of
the agrobacterium as a natural genetic
vector to transfer, for example, genes of
interest between vegetable species that
are reproductively isolated, that is, they
do not interbreed with pollen”, he jus-
tifies. The agronomist clarifies that it is
possible to take resistance genes of red
pepper diseases to tomatoes, and vice
versa, transferring traits between edible
plants, reducing the risk for consumers.
These are known as cisgenic products.
“If produced with recommended
scientific caution, the impacts and
the potential risks in terms of human
health fromcisgenic products are near
nil”, he ponders. “On the contrary, they
might even protect the consumers, as
the farmers do not need to apply pes-
ticides to fight somemajor tomato dis-
eases. Therefore, the products modi-
fied via genetic engineering should
not be considered only from a preju-
diced point of view”.