HM.CLAUSE is #ThrilledForTomato for over 70 years and it’s not about to stop!

More than ever HM.CLAUSE proves its tomato know-how and strengthens its leadership and its close link with growers. Providing growers with innovative and concrete solutions enable them to improve the quality of their production in a sustainable way.

What is HM.CLAUSE History about tomato?

As a global innovative leader in tomato breeding, HM.CLAUSE works all year long to research, develop, test, produce and supply tomato seeds. HM.CLAUSE has a long-lasting tomato (love) story. We have been breeding tomatoes for over 60 years.

Our portfolio registers over 300 commercial varieties with new exciting varieties being developed and launched every year.

Our wide-ranging tomato portfolio includes: Beef, Round, Oval, Saladette, Elongated, Marmande, cherry-cocktail, oxheart and many more!
We deliver tailor-made solutions for farmers and growers, fitting with local tastes and consumption habits.

Our Tomato success stories through the years

HM.CLAUSE is the combination of different companies including Harris Moran, Clause and Tézier. All three companies had a tomato breeding program. In the US, Mexico and Central American markets, Harris Moran also acted as a distributor for Clause.

The first success story was the open field – indeterminate tomato called “ALAMBRA” developed by Tézier and launched in Brazil in the 90’s.

In Italy in the early 2000’s, Tézier launched “Laetitia,” an overwinter indeterminate round cluster tomato with resistance to Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus (TYLCV). This variety encountered great success thanks to its big fruit size, deep red color, and resistance.

More recently in Italy, in the early 2010’s, Clause & Tézier, who had recently merged, focused on the cherry tomato market, and supplied 2 overwinter varieties, GENIO F1 and CREATIVO F1 which delivered an answer from splitting (cracking) and a resistance to TYLCV. These 2 varieties are still produced successfully to this day!

In the even more recent history of HM.CLAUSE we can highlight ADORA (Spain) and ALBERTY (Turkey) as current successful varieties.

ADORA is Marmande-brown type for protected crops with a great taste that won the hearts of our Spanish consumers. ALBERTY is a round beef tomato for protected crops with a rustic shape, great taste, and high quality.

HM.CLAUSE has also introduced several determinate market leader varieties like Pony Express F1 and Nativo R F1 (Latin America) and determinate varieties dedicated to the Processing Industry like.

What are our markets?

Our portfolio addresses 2 different markets: Fresh tomato and Processing tomato

Fresh tomato market:

Tomatoes are delivered “raw”, just as they are when harvested.

Colorful, mature, appetizing, with improved shelf-life capacities to preserve their texture, taste and nutritional properties during transport

Processing tomato:

Tomatoes will be transformed to be consumed in sauce, juice, soup, peeled, or be canned.

Growers’ Expectations for this market go to mature uniformity, brix, viscosity and internal color, but also adaptation to mechanical harvest, needing a maximum percentage of factory-graded fruit yield per plant.

Determinate or indeterminate tomato?

We breed them both! These terms refer to the growth habit of the tomato plants. They essentially mean bush or vining tomatoes, respectively.

Determinate Tomatoes:

Determinate tomatoes are varieties that grow to a fixed mature size and ripen all their fruit in a short period. Determinate tomato varieties are often referred to as “bush” tomatoes because they do not continue extending in length throughout the growing season. They are generally smaller plants than indeterminate tomatoes, with most growing to a compact 4 to 5 feet in height.

Growing determinate tomatoes is practical when you want to have a short cycle crop and reduce crop management costs like pruning. They are also used when harvesting a lot of tomatoes at once is required, for example for making juice, sauces, and canning (processing market).

Indeterminate Tomatoes:

Unlike determinate tomatoes that hit their mature height and set all their fruit at once, indeterminate tomato varieties are vining plants that continue to extend in length throughout the growing season. This is why you will sometimes see them referred to as “vining” tomatoes.

Protected crops or open field cultivation?

Tomatoes that grow on vines or bushes with vines are better suited for greenhouse growing (indeterminate) and the bush variety are better suited for outdoors (determinate).

Where can you find HM.CLAUSE tomato?

We distribute tomato seeds in every continent. Our 13 subsidiaries along with our strong distribution network cover the entire world.

Our local team works closely with producers and retailers to make our vegetable varieties more appealing, more flavorsome and easier to cultivate.

How does HM.CLAUSE innovate in the breeding of new tomato varieties?

We provide farmers and growers with crops that are better suited for their local environments and consumer preferences. To do this, we have 6 R&D stations across the world with a dedicated team and a specific tomato breeding programs.

We also have several “home farms”, production farms owned and managed by HM Clause supported by a strong and historical production network in 8 countries in order to conduct trials, test and produce tomato seed in different environments.

Our breeding programs focus on research and development of new tomato varieties that bring new added value traits to increase agronomic performance and meet expectations of consumers and chain partners. HM.CLAUSE is always seeking ways to improve through innovation.

Quality & Taste :

Quality and taste are the 2 main focuses in the HM.CLAUSE breeding program:

Tasteful tomato:

We deliver a broad panel of color and taste. Red, pink, green, yellow, zebra or striped—our tomato rainbow is boundless!

We are eager to pursue the development of new varieties for farmers and growers to rely on, and to provide end consumers multiple options to choose from.

Quality:

From quality seeds to quality vegetables: HM.CLAUSE, is committed to deliver growers with quality seeds that will grow into quality vegetables.

We have in place strict Quality Control protocols to control key seed quality attributes like germination rate, sanitary status and purity. Our teams work hard to improve the seed quality we produce to exceed grower’s expectations.

What are the challenges and trends for tomato in the future?

High cost of inputs, pest and diseases, postharvest losses and marketing are the major challenges facing tomato production globally.

Tomato production is affected by numerous diseases. In the past decade, many viruses infecting tomato have been reported, while new viral diseases have also emerged. Viruses cause significant economic damages to tomato production. The review of databases and literature revealed at least 312 viruses, satellite viruses, or viroid species associated with tomato, which is the highest number of viruses recorded for any plant.

What is the Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV)?

Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) is an emerging viral threat to tomato productivity and is currently spreading into new areas, which is of great concern to the growing global production.

Because antiviral products are not available, strategies to mitigate viral diseases rely on genetic resistance/tolerance to infection, control of vectors, improvement in crop hygiene, rouging of infected plants and use of healthy seeds from reliable suppliers.

Key facts about ToBRFV:

Tobamovirus mostly affects tomato crops, particularly plants grown in protected environments
Source of infection: Soil (cells of wounded roots), weeds (Solanum, Tobacco), infected infrastructure, fruits, seeds.
Spread to plants through tools, hands, greenhouse structure & equipment, as well as pollinating insects (bumble bees etc.).

What is HM.CLAUSE doing to fight against ToBRFV spread?

HM.CLAUSE seeds are produced under the highest recognized phytosanitary standard GSPP (Good Seed and Plant Practices) for a large part of its leading Indeterminate Tomato portfolio.

GSPP protocols prevent contamination from pathogen threats, viruses, and bacteria.

To help growers we also setup guide and training to help them recognized the virus and control further spread.

Prophylactic disease control booklet
Detect the virus; assist growers when the virus is found so they can control further spread / crop loss

Want to know more about tomato?

Origin & history

Tomatoes have come a long way from their origins as pea-sized berries due to humans breeding tomato plants to produce bigger fruit. Scientifically known as Solanum lycopersicum, the tomato vegetable is a favorite vegetable worldwide. It is native to South and Central America where tomato plant was domesticated more than 8,000 years ago.

The tomato is a native of the lower Andes and cultivated by the Aztecs in Mexico. The tomato, along with maize (corn), potatoes, chilli peppers and sweet potatoes was introduced to Spain in the early sixteenth century.

Tomato consumption has shown a general increased trend of consumption and tomatoes are now the most popular vegetables in the world.

Nutrition Facts and Health Benefits

Tomatoes are the major dietary source of the antioxidant lycopene, which has been linked to many health benefits, including reduced risk of heart disease and cancer.
They are also a great source of Vitamin C, potassium, folate, and Vitamin K.

Is tomato a fruit or a vegetable?

Over the years, there have been heated debates on whether the tomato is a fruit or vegetable. According to most nutritionists, tomato is a vegetable. However, botanists describe the tomato as a fruit. Hence, tomatoes are vegetables because of their nutritional value. On the other hand, they are fruits because they are formed out of a plants ovary and have the seeds of the plant.

Did you know…?

Italy was the first to embrace and cultivate the tomato outside South America.
Native versions of tomato were small, like cherry tomatoes, and most likely yellow rather than red.
In the late 1700s, a large percentage of Europeans feared the tomato because it looked like a local poisonous fruit known as the wolf peach.
Around 1880, with the invention of the pizza in Naples, the tomato grew widespread in popularity in Europe.