Cultivar · Tomato cultivar
Rutgers
Rutgers is a historic American tomato released in 1934 by the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, bred for both canning and fresh market and long a standard in the eastern United States.
Record
Cultivar / variety- Variety of
- Tomato
- Botanical taxon
- Solanum lycopersicum
- Type
- Historic cultivar
- Breeding method
- Cross-bred selection
- Origin
- New Jersey, United States
- Released
- 1934
- Breeder / institution
- New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, Rutgers University (with the Campbell Soup Company)
- Registry status
- Historical
- Registries
- USDA GRIN — National Plant Germplasm System · United States · as of 2026-07-12Cited at the collection level for tomato germplasm and cultivar nomenclature; no specific accession identifier is asserted.
- Adaptation
- A warm-season main-crop tomato historically bred for eastern United States conditions; adaptation of modern strains varies by region.
- Intended use
- Processing (canning and juice), Fresh market
Registry listing or variety protection is jurisdiction- and date-specific and does not by itself indicate current commercial availability, universal cultivation approval, patent status, or a recommendation.
Rutgers is a historic American tomato released in 1934 by the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station at Rutgers University, developed in cooperation with the Campbell Soup Company. It was bred as a dual-purpose main-crop tomato serving both the canning trade and the fresh market.
The original Rutgers came from a cross of earlier varieties and became one of the most widely grown tomatoes in the mid-twentieth-century United States. Its influence persists, though the strains sold today often differ from the 1934 release.
Identity and type
Rutgers is described as a main-crop tomato bearing rounded red fruit well suited to canning and juice as well as fresh use. It was bred from a cross of established varieties of its day and released as a dependable dual-purpose type for eastern growers.
- Parent crop
- Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)
- Growth habit
- Indeterminate
- Released
- 1934
- Intended use
- Canning, juice, and fresh market
History and modern strains
Rutgers was a leading commercial and home-garden tomato for decades and remains a recognized heritage name. Over time, various reselections and improved strains have been distributed under the Rutgers name, so modern seed may not match the characteristics of the original 1934 release.
Relationships
Evidence-backed connections in the knowledge graph.
Related topics
Scope & limitations
Geographic scope: Bred in New Jersey for eastern United States production and grown widely across North America; modern strains differ from the historic release.
Climate context: Warm-season main-crop tomato originally developed for eastern United States field conditions.
- Many strains distributed as Rutgers are later reselections that differ from the original 1934 variety, so the name alone does not fix the plant’s exact characteristics.
- Whether the historic type is best described as indeterminate or semi-determinate is reported with some variation across sources.
- Its historical adaptation to eastern United States conditions does not guarantee comparable behaviour in other regions.
Sources
This article draws on the following authoritative sources. See our sources & methodology for how they are selected.
- [1]GRIN-Global / National Plant Germplasm System (opens in a new tab)Authoritative
USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
Cited for: Tomato germplasm, parentage, and cultivar nomenclature (collection level)
- Type:
- Official registry
- Jurisdiction:
- United States / Global
- Accessed:
- 2026-07-12
- [2]GBIF — Global Biodiversity Information Facility (opens in a new tab)High
Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
Cited for: Taxonomic backbone for Solanum lycopersicum
- Type:
- Reference database
- Jurisdiction:
- Global
- Accessed:
- 2026-07-12