What Happened to Bushel Boy Tomatoes?

For decades, Bushel Boy tomatoes were a Minnesota favorite – the rare winter tomato that actually tasted like it came from a backyard garden in peak summer. Then they vanished from store shelves, and no one seemed to know why.

Star Tribune reporters Victor Stefanescu and Brooks Johnson dug into the mystery and found a story involving greenhouse farming, a sudden shutdown, a beloved local brand and a destructive tomato virus that can spread through indoor farms with devastating results.

On this episode of Essential Minnesota, we look at what happened to Bushel Boy – and what its disappearance says about the future of locally grown food in Minnesota.

Photo Credits:
Carlos Gonzalez / The Minnesota Star Tribune
David Joles / The Minnesota Star Tribune

00:00 The mystery of Bushel Boy tomatoes
00:41 Growing tomatoes in a Minnesota winter
01:30 Inside the Bushel Boy greenhouse
04:03 The gamble behind a local tomato empire
05:54 Why Bushel Boy became a Minnesota favorite
09:20 The rare grocery brand people actually loved
11:42 The sale that changed Bushel Boy
13:47 When the tomatoes disappeared
16:44 How reporters started digging
18:10 The virus behind the shutdown
21:07 Why Bushel Boy couldn’t simply start over
23:21 What’s growing there now?
24:43 Should backyard tomato growers worry?
25:44 What Minnesota lost

More from Essential Minnesota: https://www.startribune.com/essential-minnesota/601583462
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