Power, Prototype, and Environmental Harm: Lifting the Veil Behind the Supermarket’s Shiny Round Tomato

In this paper, I suggest that supermarkets’ interpretation of consumer tomato preferences drive food loss on American farms causing severe environmental impacts. I argue that the Cold War generated an oligarchic supermarket power dynamic in the United States where the chain retailers controlled the market. The food selling business sector was further consolidated in the late part of the 20th century creating a monopsony. This concentration of power has allowed the few largest supermarket retailers to write stringent tomato contracts with farmers. Farmers are forced to discard roughly 20% of their perfectly edible but cosmetically imperfect tomatoes. As a result, multiple generations of shoppers have an unrealistic prototype of tomatoes. The prototype problem does not only result in the loss of fresh market tomatoes, but also the misapplication of water, energy, and agrochemicals. Given the severity of the problem, in recent years box name stores have attempted to sell the irregular produce with little success. Some e-commerce grocers have found an informed customer base looking to buy irregular produce; however, this is small fraction of consumers. In describing these losses, I suggest government action to create a food loss campaign to accompany a food loss tax imposed on the purchasers who write the produce strict contracts.