Sweet Taste of Experimentation
at the end of summer, earlier this year, while corowa’s local gardeners were preparing to sow their winter crops, tecmato was busy getting ready to sow our favourite summer crop: the tomato. yes, that’s right we were planting tomatoes in may, in australia.
over the past two years, the tecmato lab has trialled tomatoes in a controlled indoor environment, meticulously mimicking the soil and climatic conditions of southern italy all to achieve that authentic mediterranean flavour, all year round, no matter what!
the santorini variety, known for its water-resilient traits, originating in greece, was our strategic choice. although initial trials have been positive and, yielded sweet fruits, the lab struggled with irrigation consistency and often led to duelling with our arch nemesis blossom end rot.
this year, i escalated the experiment by joining forces with an expert agronomist, luca, to fully test our proprietary living soil mix and the concept of an endless campania summer.
the effort paid off: the trial was a great success, yielding big, juicy, sweet tomatoes home grown in soil and ready to eat by october. the fruit was so exceptional that we entered it into the corowa show’s winter kitchen crop competition, confident it would stand out.
Tradition meets technology
luca, joined the project not too long after we met following a lecture on advanced crop monitoring methods. immediately i was struck by his passion for tomatoes and deep expertise, honed managing large field cultivations throughout victoria's foodbowl.
I, on the other hand, was a mere soil enthusiast who was developing a bio-active soil made of australian minerals and nutrients designed to mimic southern italian grade soil. the goal was simple: create a thriving soil food web for productive, flavourful tomatoes grown year-round. given my plateauing results with irrigation and fruit size, i asked for luca's expertise and help in the trial to validate this concept and push the experiment to the level of quality we were searching for. what australia is searching for, the perfect, year-round tomato, or one with some juicy sweet flavour. you know, the ones we all dream about.
lo and behold, luca achieved it within our modest setup. the experiment was conducted in a 120cm x 120cm growing area, using a 60l pot and a full-spectrum light array of approximately ~3,000 mini led lights. the climate was controlled for temperature, humidity, and airflow. the watering system was a natural, automatic, gravity-fed system using porous terracotta sensors that regulate water flow based on soil moisture.
though fully automated to mimic a summer environment, the humble tomato lab struggled to fend off near-negative outside temperatures in the middle of corowa’s winter, which slowed the plant's growth and extended our harvest time, causing some delays. but then again, rome took it’s time too.
A celebration of local pride
nonetheless, the experiment's culmination landed in corowa, nsw, a beautiful country town on the riverina murray border, known for its deep agricultural heritage and productive farming enterprises. the annual corowa show celebrates this tradition with livestock and crop displays, embodying the community's passion for the land.
so, when luca suggested entering the santorini’s into the winter crop competition, it was an audacious, yet brilliant, idea! we knew tomatoes might not have a category, but we entered them anyway alongside luca’s prize-winning cauliflower and beans. as expected, our winter home grown tomatoes in soil were met with scratched heads and many questions but no formal judging.
it was all in good fun and piqued the local punters interest. luca still took home second place for his other produce, proudly celebrating local achievement alongside the corowa public school, which took out first place this year. the event proved that blending innovative growing with community spirit is the true win here. maybe next year there will be a tomato category.
future of tecmato
the corowa trial wasn't just a success; it was proof that the authentic southern italian tomato flavour can be achieved year-round, overcoming seasonal and local climate barriers. luca's achievement emphatically validates the core of our belief: that superior quality can be delivered consistently—every day, regardless of the weather or season—when soil health and agronomic knowledge are intelligently combined with precision technology.
by blending time-honoured tradition with modern agriculture, we demonstrated that high-flavour, community-led food production is a vision not constrained by geography or the calendar. this audacious success, marked by an entry into a regional show, represents a significant shift, pulling the focus of out of season crop growing out of complex supply chains and placing it squarely into the hands of the home grower.
