Dry Farmed Tomato Fest

September 11, 2021
Noon to 4pm
Wellspent Parking Lot
935 NE Couch St. Portland, OR 97232

Join us Saturday for the world’s first dry farmed tomato festival. While Oregon has a rainy reputation, climate change brought severe drought to the state 20 years ago. We’ll all need to learn to live with less water, but it’s an existential issue for farmers. Dry farming makes
agriculture possible when water is scarce; for tomatoes, it makes them taste better, too.

Dry farming restricts a plant's water intake, so its fruits wind up with less water content and a greater density of sugar and other flavor compounds. The best dry farmed tomatoes are less juicy but have dense, meaty flesh and intense flavor. But not every tomato benefits from dry farming. That’s why we need your help.

Growers working with Oregon State University researchers exploring dry-farming are trialing several tomato varieties to find out which grow well here in the PNW. They’ll have tomato tasting kits with easy instructions for tasting and reporting what you like and why. You’ll be helping local farmers choose the best tasting tomatoes for dry farming, conserve one of our most valuable resources, and become more sustainable.

Our friends from the Culinary Breeding Network will join us with hand-carved Italian marzipan molds, Tatti Stampa prints, and Moontea Artwork tea towels. We’ll be slinging cold drinks and tasty tomato treats. Join us in the parking lot from noon to 4 Saturday, September 11.