Modern store bought tomatoes have been bred for size and firmness. Firmness in particular reduces losses during mechanical harvesting and shipping. Since 1968,

Modern store bought tomatoes have been bred for size and firmness. Firmness in particular reduces losses during mechanical harvesting and shipping. Since 1968, the date of wide-spread use of mechanical harvesters, this has resulted in varieties that are not as flavorful. It is probably this mechanization of tomato farming and not global warming that has made flavorful tomatoes harder to obtain. From [1]: > Within five years [from 1963], 99.9 percent of the industry was using the mechanical harvesters, and most farmers were planting the comparatively tasteless hybrid tomatoes built to withstand them. [1] https://civileats.com/2015/07/15/from-ketchup-to-california-cuisine-how-the-mechanical-tomato-harvester-prompted-todays-food-movement/ https://civileats.com/2015/07/15/from-ketchup-to-california-...