For the time being, though, Canada's tomato growers seem to see no alternative to an old-fashioned trade war.

Gargiulo and other tomato growers in the area contacted for comment did not return telephone calls.

He has become a successful tomato grower in central California with hundreds of employees, many of them migrants from Jerez like him.

"We're on the same latitude as Mexico's tomato growers."

Trial and error are still very much part of the tomato grower's lot.

Aside from thorough watering, the solution followed by many tomato growers has been to keep mulch quite well.

The organisation represents over 90% of tomato growers in the UK (around 850).

For three decades tomato growers have used plastic to suppress weeds and to warm the soil in the spring, resulting in early, heavy yields.

His Administration even pressured Mexico into a trade agreement to protect the state's tomato growers.

Others, like Israeli tomato growers, have transplanted operations to the Dominican Republic.