Bonnie Best: The Swimming Tomato

By Joe Cavanaugh

In bygone days before modern transportation, small local canneries were the norm in America. One such business was Albertson's Cannery which operated in Hope, New Jersey which is located in the northwestern part of the state. From 1919 to 1949 local farmers in the area (including growers on the other side of the Delaware River in Pennsylvania) all had their patch of tomatoes to sell to Albertson's.

In the past each cannery had only one specific tomato variety that they would accept. For example, the Hopewell Cannery, Hopewell, New Jersey (circa 1890) would only take the Paragon tomato. Likewise, Albertson's would only accept the Bonny Best. According to Lawrence Predmore, a Pennsylvania farmer now in his 80's, the New Jersey farmers called this the tomato the Bonny Best. On the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River the farmers called this tomato John Baer.

Albertson's was a successful business venture until the mid-1940's. But a few years later, mostly due to the larger presence of Campbell's, Albertson's was in financial trouble. They closed their doors after the 1949 growing season.

Communications in the late 1940's would be considered primitive when compared to today. Television was a new medium and as one farmer related, "Most growers rarely traveled far from their homes. They didn't know, or care for that matter, what was going on in other parts of the state."

The year 1950 rolled around and all the local farmers still grew their Bonny Bests, feeling they would have no problem selling their produce to another cannery. As harvest time approached they learned that the other small canneries in the state, that were still operating, had their own preferred tomato varieties. None would accept the Bonny Best tomato. Finally, the farmers mistakenly thought they had found a cannery in Philadelphia that would accept their Bonny Bests. They loaded several trucks with tomatoes and drove to Philadelphia. Only to learn that this cannery also had a specific tomato variety and it was not the Bonny Best.

Dejected, they drove back home after having been unable to sell their tomatoes. The farmers backed up to the Delaware River and decided to let the entire load "go for a swim". What the people down river must have thought when they saw thousands of pounds of Bonny Best tomatoes floating by!