The crop is a first for Neale Gillett, with the help of Graeme Murfet.

The hectare of tomatoes took about five days to plant in December last year.

Mr Gillett has brought his accountant's mindset when he chose to plant the tomatoes last year.

When deciding on what to grow, it came down to economics.

"I was looking at something with a higher value per item," Mr Gillett said.

"Tomatoes were it. I talked to a few people in the industry and looked at the cost and thought it should be feasible"

Mr Gillett said he did plenty of research and investment.

"There's no sense in doing it if you can't make a quid out of it," he said.

"Get as much (information) as you can and go for it.

"I grow other things on the farm, poppies and potatoes and pyrethrum; I was looking to diversify.

"We have fantastic soils on the North-West Coast and sometimes we need to open our eyes and look a little bit harder at what we can do."

He said it was the first time he had planted tomatoes.

"Every step is a learning curve for us, we've never planted them, haven't picked them, boxed them or sold them," he said.

And there's no greenhouse, with some 25-26,000 plants growing outside in the elements.

"There is a bit of risk doing that," he said.

"You're under the control of the elements."

So far the season has been kind.

"I haven't had to spray yet," Mr Gillett said.

"There have been no bugs."

The variety chosen was Rouge de Marmande, which he described as "old fashioned tasty", from Hills Transplants at Devonport.

Mr Gillett said the crop would mean employment for locals, which he was pleased about.

The plan is to sell the tomatoes to local retailers and wholesalers, with interest so far from both Hobart and Devonport.

He's also looking to sell some of the fruit as sauce tomatoes.

In another three week the tomatoes will be ready to harvest.

"They're in full growth at the moment," he said.