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The field used to represent tomato production in Pennsylvania is located in Adams/Lancastrer Counties in Pennsylvania. According to the 1997 Census of Agriculture, Pennsylvania is ranked 6^th overall in the production of tomatoes in the U.S. Tomatoes are grown on either six-inch raised beds (20 percent) or on flat beds (80 percent). Tomato plants are transplanted from greenhouse operations. Most tomatoes are planted in late April following the last frost and the harvest may begin in July and last for up to 120 days. Most tomatoes are grown using conventional tillage; less than 2 percent use no-till. Fresh market tomatoes are grown using stakes woven with mesh, individual staking is rare. Growers use black polyethylene mulch (black plastic) for weed control in the beds. Approximately 25 percent of plastic mulch growers use red mulch instead of black. Fresh market growers use trickle irrigation systems. Tomatoes for processing are grown in a similar fashion to fresh market varieties except they are grown on bare ground using overhead drip irrigation; no plastic or stakes are used. Nearly all processed tomatoes are machine harvested. The soil selected to simulate the field is a benchmark soil, Glenville silt loam. Glenville silt loam, is a fine-loamy, mixed, active, mesic, Aquic Fragiudults. These soils are in general crop production, but mostly grain, hay and pasture. Glenville silt loam is a very deep, moderately well drained or somewhat poorly drained, medium to slowly permeable soil with medium to slow runoff and consists of a fragipan at approximately 2 feet. In the fragipan, permeability is slow to moderately slow. These soils formed in residuum weathered from mica acid schist and crystalline rock containing mica. They are found on nearly level to strongly sloping upland flats, footslopes, or near the heads of drainageways. These soils are extensive in the mid-Atlantic Piedmont. Slopes range from 0 to 15 percent. Glenville silt loam is a Hydrologic Group C soil.

* EI = 100 ft-tons * in/ acre*hr

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EPA. 2001. Abel, S.A. Procedure for Conducting Quality Assurance and Quality Control of Existing and New PRZM Field and Orchard Crop Standard Scenarios. Environmental Fate and Effects Division, Office of Pesticide Programs, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C.

Haan, C.T. and B.J. Barfield. 1978. Hydrology and Sedimentology of Surface Mined Lands. Office of Continuing Education and Extension, College of Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40506. pp. 286.

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