Members of the Smith family take a quick break to pose for a picture in the Smith Tomato open market. The family is hosting a Fall Festival at the farm Saturday, Oct. 1.

Members of the Smith family take a quick break to pose for a picture in the Smith Tomato open market. The family is hosting a Fall Festival at the farm Saturday, Oct. 1.

STEELE – Dr. Joe Brindley of Oneonta sat on the tailgate of his truck, next to boxes of ripe red tomatoes. 

“They are the best in the world,” said Brindley, who retired as a Montevallo University vice-president and now lives in Oneonta, not far from St. Clair County’s Chandler Mountain. 

That’s where Smith Tomato LLC grows millions of tomatoes each year. 

“Smith’s Tomatoes are simply the very best,” Brindley states.

Brindley frequents the St. Clair County farm weekly to buy tomatoes, usually with his friend Chad Martin. 

Brindley gives tomatoes away in a church ministry, and he also shares the juicy red fruits with his fellow church members.

His tomatoes are fresh as fresh can be. 

Brindley chooses the tomatoes by hand, picking them straight out of the field and has been doing so for the past four years. 

“They are open seven days a week, and their fields are very accessible,” Brindley said. 

He said the family owned and operated farm not only sells delicious tomatoes, but they know how to treat people. 

“This is a great operation,” he said. “The people here are so nice.”

Brindley said he doesn’t mind coming to the farm early and picking his own tomatoes, a method made available to all Smith Tomato customers. 

“I pick ‘em, and I give ‘em away,” he said, offering a bag of tomatoes. “I am going to give them away anyway.”

He said Martin, his friend, was going to take some of the tomatoes they picked last week to people in Gulf Shores.

“I give them to my church,” Brindley said, but he cautions that he keeps plenty for himself. “We’re addicted to them.”

People who visit the farm can also buy other garden favorites at the Smiths’ open market, located on-site. 

“My mom started the open market when my parents got involved in the ‘80s,” said Chad Smith, who, along with his brother Phillip and sister Kista Lowe, owns and operates the tomato farm. 

People visit Smith Tomatoes from out-of-state just to buy from the family, Chad said. 

“We took over when mom and dad passed in 2018,” Kista said. “But we’ve been around it our whole lives.”

There are other members of the Smith family, including three spouses – Chad’s wife, Esther; Kista’s husband, Jon; and Phillip’s wife, Mandy, who also work on the 200-acre tomato farm. There are about 12 family members in all who work on the farm. 

“My two daughters work here, Delaney and Kady Franklin. They love it,” Kista said. “Phillip’s daughter Braelyn also works here. She helps in the summer when she is not in school.”

Then there are the pickers, immigrant workers, about 60, who work during the harvest season, which runs from July to the end of October. After the season in Alabama, some workers travel to Florida, working the harvest season there.

“We have seven different plantings,” Chad said. “We’re on the fifth planting right now, more than halfway through.”

He said the tomato seedlings in each planting are put into dirt two weeks apart.  

The tomatoes are handpicked when the fruits are about half ripe, Chad said. 

“We’ll pick green ones for fried tomatoes,” he said. “Generally, though, we like to pick them when they have a little color, orange or light red.”

Chad said the family run business ships tomatoes by trucks to all types of businesses as far west as Texas and as far north as New York. 

He said they work the farm about 10 months out of the year, but when summer arrives, it is seven days, 60-80 hours, weekly. 

Profit depends on the market, and supply and demand. 

“If we have a good year, we can earn about one nickel for every pound of tomatoes,” Chad said. 

He points out the costs involved with growing tomatoes on top of Chandler Mountain, like fertilizer, laborers, fuel for machinery, seeds for growing and the use of greenhouses to start the plants before they’re transported to the farm. 

In recent times, like other businesses, Smith Tomato has had to deal with rising fuel costs, regulations, labor shortages and the weather. 

“You can put in all the time and effort, and a 10 minute hail storm can ruin it all,” Chad said. “In 2020, we had a virus. We lost two fields, almost 30 acres.”

The tomato business can be a risky business.

“My dad used to say it’s like gambling,” Kista said. “You put in your chips and hope for the best.”

Smith Tomato first began in 1965. 

“My grandparents helped on a tomato farm, but my Uncle Marvin Smith purchased the land and started the business,” Chad said.

He said his uncle started the business with 82 acres. Smith Tomato now owns 400 acres, but uses half of that land to grow its tomatoes and other produce, like a variety of peppers, squash, cucumbers, zucchini, egg plants, watermelons and cantaloupes. 

He said the sandy soil on top of Chandler Mountain is perfect for growing tomatoes, and Kista said the temperature is about five degrees cooler on top of the mountain. 

Chad said his father got involved with the business with his uncles Leroy and Wayne after his uncle Marvin died. 

“My dad and mom died in 2018, three months apart,” Chad said. “Uncle Wayne died this year, this past May.”

So the farm is now in the hands of the two brothers and sister who have lived and worked on the farm all of their lives. 

“We love what we do, so it makes it all worth it,” Kista said. “We are proud of what we do. We help feed people.”

So if you see a box with the name, “Smith Tomato,” you know it is a box of juicy red tomatoes grown and picked right here in St. Clair County on top of Chandler Mountain and of the best quality.

“My dad said quality comes before quantity,” Kista said. “If you put your name on something, it needs to be good.”

On Saturday, Oct. 1, the family is hosting a Fall Festival from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“It’s really for the kids,” Kista said. 

She said the Festival will have about 60 arts and crafts vendors, along with food vendors. 

Kids can get free face painting, while everyone can enjoy live music on the property. 

Kista said there is also a pumpkin sale, along with fall décor, and photos and games for the kids. 

For more information, visit Smith Tomato LLC Facebook page.

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