Betty Trahan recently wrote a letter concerning the cost of Madison-grown tomatoes.

Backyard Farms amazingly has managed to produce vine-ripened tomatoes that are capable of being on your grocer's shelves within 24 hours of being picked.

I work at Backyard Farms as a "picker."

You do not have to know much about merchandising to realize the grower of any product on your grocer's shelves is not the one setting the retail price you pay for that product. The supermarket management or store owners are the ones who determine the mark-up that results in a profit margin.

Lower shipping costs for the retailer should translate into savings for the consumer. However, food margins are very slim. This is one place where retailers can increase margins by paying less in shipping costs and/or local products and still keep a premium price on that product.

Your supermarket manager needs to know if you are unhappy with pricing or availability of any of the store's products. He or she then can take this information back to store management, which sets the retail prices.

I expect that the retail prices you see now will drop when farmers markets and farm stands have their own locally grown tomatoes available.

In the meantime, please buy any locally grown products or merchandise produced by local business owners.

These are the folks who hire people who work and live within a reasonable commute from their homes, saving a few dollars we can, in turn, give to the non-local gas companies.

Gary Allain

Madison