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New Jersey · crop watch

New Jersey tomato crop

USDA last rated the 2026 New Jersey tomato crop for the week ending Aug 2, when 79% was good or excellent, versus 76% at this point last year. Harvest is 95% complete. USDA last published a production estimate for the state in 2018, when the crop finished at 0.9 million cwt.

Last rated week ending Aug 2, 2026

Good to excellent · last reading

79%of the crop

Share of the 2026 crop rated good or excellent for the week ending Aug 2.

–

95%

Harvested

As of Sep 27.

Analysis

Week ending Aug 2 — 8 weeks ago

New Jersey tomatoes rated above last year's pace

USDA's most recent condition rating for New Jersey tomatoes, now 36 days old, covered the week ending August 2 and put the crop at 79% good to excellent, up 1 point from the prior week and ahead of the 76% mark from the same week last year. Planting had reached 95% by June 21, well ahead of last year's 88% at that point in the season. Harvest was 80% complete by August 30, matching last year's pace exactly. No five-year average was available for comparison. The next USDA report will show whether the improved rating held through the remainder of harvest.

This is the most recent reading USDA has published for this crop and state; it is not a current-week rating.

Written from USDA data and source reports

Weekly ratings

Crop condition, 2026

Bars are the full USDA rating split each week. The dashed line is the five-year average for good plus excellent; the dotted line is last year.

2026202520242023202220212020
New Jersey tomato crop condition, 20260%25%50%75%100%Week ending May 31: Very poor 1%, Poor 1%, Fair 13%, Good 75%, Excellent 10% — good+excellent 85% (5-yr avg 86%, last year 63%)Week ending Jun 7: Very poor 1%, Poor 1%, Fair 10%, Good 75%, Excellent 13% — good+excellent 88% (5-yr avg 88%, last year 69%)Week ending Jun 14: Very poor 1%, Poor 1%, Fair 19%, Good 68%, Excellent 11% — good+excellent 79% (5-yr avg 87%, last year 76%)Week ending Jun 21: Very poor 0%, Poor 0%, Fair 31%, Good 64%, Excellent 5% — good+excellent 69% (5-yr avg 86%, last year 90%)Week ending Jun 28: Very poor 0%, Poor 0%, Fair 26%, Good 69%, Excellent 5% — good+excellent 74% (5-yr avg 85%, last year 85%)Week ending Jul 5: Very poor 0%, Poor 1%, Fair 26%, Good 71%, Excellent 2% — good+excellent 73% (5-yr avg 79%, last year 68%)Week ending Jul 12: Very poor 0%, Poor 0%, Fair 40%, Good 60%, Excellent 0% — good+excellent 60% (5-yr avg 79%, last year 72%)Week ending Jul 19: Very poor 0%, Poor 0%, Fair 20%, Good 80%, Excellent 0% — good+excellent 80% (5-yr avg 78%, last year 82%)Week ending Jul 26: Very poor 1%, Poor 5%, Fair 16%, Good 76%, Excellent 2% — good+excellent 78% (5-yr avg 84%, last year 92%)Week ending Aug 2: Very poor 0%, Poor 4%, Fair 17%, Good 74%, Excellent 5% — good+excellent 79% (5-yr avg —, last year 76%)Harvest begins — week ending Jun 28Harvest begins−13 pts — week ending Jul 12−13 ptsMay 31Jun 14Jun 28Jul 12Jul 26
Very poorPoorFairGoodExcellent5-yr avg good+excellentLast year

Latest: 79% good or excellent, week ending Aug 2. Hover a bar for the full breakdown.

Field progress

Planted, 2026

This season against the five-year average pace and last year.

New Jersey tomato planted, 20260%50%100%Planted, week ending May 3: 15% (5-yr avg —, last year —)Planted, week ending May 10: 27% (5-yr avg 28%, last year 21%)Planted, week ending May 17: 50% (5-yr avg 50%, last year 36%)Planted, week ending May 24: 60% (5-yr avg 63%, last year 56%)Planted, week ending May 31: 75% (5-yr avg 75%, last year 68%)Planted, week ending Jun 7: 85% (5-yr avg 83%, last year 77%)Planted, week ending Jun 14: 90% (5-yr avg —, last year 82%)Planted, week ending Jun 21: 95% (5-yr avg —, last year 88%)May 3May 10May 17May 24May 31Jun 7Jun 14Jun 21
This year5-yr avgLast year

Planted: 95% as of Jun 21.

Field progress

Harvested, 2026

This season against the five-year average pace and last year.

New Jersey tomato harvested, 20260%50%100%Harvested, week ending Jun 28: 6% (5-yr avg —, last year —)Harvested, week ending Jul 5: 10% (5-yr avg —, last year 17%)Harvested, week ending Jul 12: 25% (5-yr avg 29%, last year 23%)Harvested, week ending Jul 19: 30% (5-yr avg 38%, last year 33%)Harvested, week ending Jul 26: 42% (5-yr avg 48%, last year 41%)Harvested, week ending Aug 2: 51% (5-yr avg —, last year 51%)Harvested, week ending Aug 9: 60% (5-yr avg —, last year 61%)Harvested, week ending Aug 16: 70% (5-yr avg —, last year 72%)Harvested, week ending Aug 23: 75% (5-yr avg 75%, last year 77%)Harvested, week ending Aug 30: 80% (5-yr avg —, last year 80%)Harvested, week ending Sep 6: 85% (5-yr avg —, last year 84%)Harvested, week ending Sep 13: 87% (5-yr avg —, last year 89%)Harvested, week ending Sep 20: 91% (5-yr avg —, last year 94%)Harvested, week ending Sep 27: 95% (5-yr avg —, last year —)Jun 28Jul 12Jul 26Aug 9Aug 23Sep 6Sep 20
This year5-yr avgLast year

Harvested: 95% as of Sep 27.

Production record

Final crop by year, through 2018

USDA published production estimates for New Jersey tomato through 2018 and has not surveyed the state since.

New Jersey tomato crop: final estimate by year00.511.5million cwt2016: no forecast · final 1.0 million cwt20162017: no forecast · final 1.1 million cwt20172018: no forecast · final 0.9 million cwt2018
Crop yearFinal (million cwt)Crop valueShare of US
20180.9 million cwt$42M0.3%
20171.1 million cwt$39M0.5%
20161.0 million cwt$52M0.3%

USDA published annual estimates for this state through 2018. It has since been dropped from the annual survey, so there is no newer production figure — the weekly condition ratings above are the current measure.

Utilization

Where the crop went

Fresh market against processing and unsold volume, by crop year.

New Jersey tomato crop: fresh market vs processing00.20.40.60.8million cwt2010: fresh 0.6, processing 0.0, not sold 0.0 million cwt — 100% fresh20102011: fresh 0.6, processing 0.0, not sold 0.0 million cwt — 100% fresh20112012: fresh 0.6, processing 0.0, not sold 0.0 million cwt — 100% fresh20122013: fresh 0.6, processing 0.0, not sold 0.0 million cwt — 100% fresh20132014: fresh 0.6, processing 0.0, not sold 0.0 million cwt — 100% fresh20142015: fresh 0.7, processing 0.0, not sold 0.0 million cwt — 100% fresh20152016: fresh 0.0, processing 0.0, not sold 0.0 million cwt20162017: fresh 0.0, processing 0.0, not sold 0.0 million cwt — 0% fresh20172018: fresh 0.0, processing 0.0, not sold 0.2 million cwt — 0% fresh2018
Fresh marketProcessingNot sold

Source: USDA NASS Crop Progress (weekly, April–November) and Crop Production reports. This product uses the NASS API but is not endorsed or certified by NASS.

Updated September 29, 2026

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