Maine tomato farm making a comeback

MADISON — Maine Gov. Paul LePage is helping Backyard Farms celebrate a new crop of tomatoes.

LePage will join plant officials Wednesday at the indoor farm, which is now back in full operation with 200 employees.

Backyard Farms, which operates a 42-acre greenhouse in Madison, twice destroyed nearly half-a-million plants over the summer — once because of an infestation of white flies and a second time because a batch of seedlings didn’t meet quality standards.

The farm typically grows about 450,000 plants that produce around 27 million pounds of tomatoes each year. The company sells to supermarkets across the region.

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