Each year Florida produces virtually all the fresh market tomatoes grown in the United States from December to May and about half the domestically produced fresh market tomatoes in the country. New varieties of tomatoes are sometimes introduced. Genetic material for some of these new varieties comes from the Tomato Genetics Resource Center at the University of California at Davis. Roger Chetelat (sheh-tuh-lay) directs the Center – he’s recently returned from a trek across Chile – looking for wild relatives of Florida’s domestic tomatoes.

He spoke to WGCU’s Valerie Alker.