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Onion
World February 2004
›› Growing
Onions in Michigan
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Onion World
February 2004
By Carrie Kennington, editor
Researchers, growers and commodity groups work to make the state's small acreage count.
The harvester runs continuously every September, picking
up 50 acres of onions from David Brink's Grant, Mich., fields. An army
truck labeled "Brink Muck Farms, Inc.," hums along side as it
is filled with the bulbs. The black cloud of Michigan muck soil settles
as the truck makes its way out of the field and onto the storage facility,
where the onions will stay until they are ready for market.
For Brink, a summer in Michigan wouldn't be the same without growing onions.
No stranger to cultivating, spraying, and maintaining equipment and fields,
he's been doing it every year since he can remember.
"My grandfather was here when they drained the marsh. He bought some
land and hired people to clear it and started farming," he said.
His grandfather, Peter, started farming in the area in the 1940s. Then
David's father, also named Peter, followed in his footsteps. David continued
the tradition, slowly building up the acreage to what it is today.
Until about 10 years ago, he used to grow more onions, but decided to
allow for longer rotation. Rotation has been a concern to David lately.
But with his experience and help from research through Michigan's university
professors and extension agents, he is able to move forward and make informed
decisions.
"We communicate a lot directly with the researchers," he said.
"Any production practice they have expertise in they can experiment
and give us some advice."
Growing Practices
Planting onions in Michigan starts in mid-April and harvest usually begins
around Labor Day. Last year, growing conditions for one Grant area grower,
Cal Dyk of Dyk Brothers, were ideal. Dyk grows about 200 acres and manages
their packing facility.
Some years in Michigan can be dry, and other years growers worry about
flooding. Onions are mainly grown on muck soil, which is old swampland
containing a lot of organic material. Depending on the level of organic
material in the muck, the soil can hold a lot of moisture. While water
is essential for growing onions, too much can mean the potential for certain
diseases and pests.
"There's a host of things you have to spray for-thrips, maggot flies
and diseases," Dyk said. "We have a problem in this area with
nutsedge. It's not fun. We hire about 15 weeders during the summer."
Dyk grows a number of different varieties, mainly yellows. Michigan has
a shorter growing season, so yellows grow the best there, specifically
long-day varieties. When harvest comes, Dyk puts the onions in storage
for curing. When they are ready, the onions are graded and packed. Their
marketing ends in March.
Cal's dad Melvin and uncle John started the company years ago. John was
very active in the National Onion Association. Today, Cal is also very
involved in groups promoting onions and other vegetables, including the
Michigan Vegetable Council and the Great Lakes Expo Board.
"There are people in Michigan who are amazed at everything grown
in the state," he commented. "I used to be on the Michigan Onion
Committee, and at our display at the Michigan State Fair over by Detroit,
we would hand out samples of carrot sticks, celery sticks and onion dip.
People would ask, 'Where did these come from?' We would say, 'Right here
in Michigan.' They would respond, 'No, they don't grow in Michigan!' And
we have to tell them, 'Well, yes they do!'"
Dedicated to Onions
There are about 35-40 onion growers in the state. Onion are a minor crop
when compared to the numerous other vegetables produced in Michigan. Since
onion acreage is small, only a few thousand acres, growers and researchers
must take an active role in developing varieties and conducting other
research that caters to the area.
"We work closely with Michigan State University," said Bruce
Klamer, chairman of the Michigan Onion Committee for the past seven years.
"Many of the growers actively participate in the research trials.
The seed companies aren't actively involved with developing varieties
in the area because the market is so small. A lot of times, we take the
varieties from other areas and see which ones will grow here." Klamer
himself is a grower in Byron Center, Mich., where he has 100 acres of
onions and 75 acres of celery.
Michigan onion growers pay six cents per hundred-weight to fund committee
efforts in variety trial work and other research projects. Klamer finds
they must be creative in order to get the most out of what they have.
For instance, every year the committee hosts a twilight dinner meeting
where seed companies pay an entry fee for the varieties they want to highlight.
The money is used to pay MSU and buy a steak dinner for the growers. This
brings the growers together to see what the seed companies are doing.
"We're a small market, so we have to find a way to maximize it,"
Klamer said.
The committee meets three or four times a year to discuss the past year
and plan for the coming season. University researchers attend with their
questions and suggestions.
"The MSU horticulture department is top notch. They know most of
the growers, and they are always available for phone calls," Klamer
commented.
Extension agents like Jim Breinling and Amy Irish-Brown, who share the
onion responsibilities in the 14-county west central region, help growers
anyway they can.
"MSU extension plays an important role in the agriculture of Michigan,"
said Breinling. As a link between growers and the universities, extension
agents strive to disperse useful information and put research to work
in the field.
Illustrating just how important the extension is to the agriculture industry
in Michigan is what happened when Michigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm considered
eliminating the state budget for the Michigan Agricultural Experiment
Station and MSU Extension. When the announcement was made public, a grassroots
response from many in the state's agriculture industry sprung up to urge
the governor not to cut the programs. They were successful in bringing
their point across as the programs were retained.
For onion growers, researchers at experiment farms and extension agents
help growers stay up to date on new herbicides and fungicides.
"Without herbicides, it would be the end of farming in Michigan,
I think," said Stan Van Singel, who grows 400 acres of onions in
the Grant area. Van Singel Farms also packs and markets its onions, selling
to major chains along the East Coast.
As an extension agent specifically for onion growers, Irish-Brown hopes
to continue to foster good relationships with growers so they can get
the most out of the work being done.
"My favorite thing to do it to take a problem, figure it out, work
with growers, work with researchers and try to put everything together
so they can grow and stay in business," she said.
According to Irish-Brown, Michigan onion growers have taken an active
role in extension work. They are very vocal and look to researchers to
help them solve problems.
"The growers are very cutting edge," she commented. "They
are very focused on what their research needs are.
"Because they're a very small group they could be very isolated from
each other," she continued. "It's not that way at all. They're
very friendly, they share information across farm borders and they work
together to move ahead."
New Mexico Onion Conference Set
Onion World
February 2004
Improved marketing of the state's burgeoning onion crop, along with updates
on new varieties, disease control and weed management will be the focus
of this year's New Mexico Onion Conference March 3 at the Hilton Las Cruces.
"Some of the biggest concerns facing the state's onion growers are marketing issues, particularly awareness of the high quality of our onions," said Stephanie Walker, vegetable specialist with New Mexico State University's Cooperative Extension Service. "Too often, the rest of the country isn't aware of the quality of the crop we produce, especially sweet onions. In June and July, New Mexico supplies about 60 percent of the nation's fresh onions."
Sponsored by NMSU, Lockhart Seeds and the New Mexico Dry
Onion Commission, the conference brings together more than 100 onion industry
growers, processors and scientists to the gathering which is held every
two years. Registration for the conference is $35 prior to Feb. 20. After
that, it's $50.
"This is one of the region's top onion conferences," said John
White, Doña Ana County Extension horticulture agent.
The program, which begins at 8:15 a.m., kicks off with a welcome from
associate dean Paul Gutierrez, new head of the state's extension service.
One of the program highlights will be a discussion of national marketing
and promotion efforts by Tanya Fell, industry relations director with
the National Onion Association.
Chris Cramer, an onion breeder with NMSU's Agricultural Experiment Station,
will review the university's current breeding program. Last year, NMSU
scientists found a way to fill an early summer harvesting void with a
new white onion variety, 'NuMex Solano,' that will hit the fresh market
while others are still in the ground. They also released a red onion,
'NuMex Crimson,' a first for NMSU.
New Mexico onion growers planted 7,700 acres with a value of more than
$50 million, according to the New Mexico Agricultural Statistics Service.
Soum Sanogo, an NMSU plant pathologist, will talk on disease
problems, while Mark Renz, an NMSU extension weed specialist, will discuss
onion weed control options.
Mike Bartolo, a vegetable crop specialist with Colorado State University,
will review salinity management in onion production, while Joanie Quinn,
assistant director of the New Mexico Organic Commodity Commission, will
discuss organic onion requirements. Other talks will address insect problems,
farmers markets, advertising and marketing, and onion bulb firmness testing.
For more information, or if you are an individual with a disability who
is in need of an auxiliary aid or service to participate in the meeting,
please contact Walker at (505) 646-5280 or swalker@nmsu.edu before the
event.
Onion World
February 2004
By Carrie Kennington, editor
Fruitland Super Sweets Make Their Mark in Idaho.
FRUITLAND, Idaho Only in a small town could these farmers
leave an open trailer with bags of onions for sale and a note for purchasers
to drop money in the metal box by the office door. It's that level of
trust that has many also buying these kinds of onions at local farmers
markets during the summers here.
The trailer, put there by grower Geoff McClelland, bears a big "Fruitland
Super Sweet Onions" name on the side. Bags of freshly harvested onions
wait patiently in the trailer to be sold.
"I think if the same bag was at Wal-mart, customers would say the
one at the fruit stand tasted better," says Geoff McClelland. Maybe
onions bought straight from farmers or farmers markets just seem fresher,
or there is something about putting a face with an onion.
Or maybe this kind of community formed because they appreciate the farm
atmosphere.
Houses are popping up everywhere in Fruitland, including in between the
plots of farmland. The population of Fruitland has risen from about 2,400
people in 1990 to 3,805 in 2000.
Geoff's face isn't the only one associated with his Fruitland onion crop.
His father George McClelland and grandfather Art Hamanishi all take part.
The trio grows 1,000 acres of mint and onions. Geoff manages the farm,
which gives his dad more time to sell the Fruitland Super Sweets to farmers
markets all around the valley.
"It's something he's always wanted to do but never had the time to
do," says Geoff. They grow about 40 acres of the over-wintering onion,
which is available by July and runs out by the end of the summer. Most
of the acreage is sent to processing. About four acres are sold fresh
to farmers markets.
"It could turn out to be a pretty good market," says Geoff.
"Places like Walla Walla and Vidalia have spent millions of dollars
promoting their onions. We don't have that kind of money, but if you build
slowly, word of mouth gets around, and eventually you build a reputation
for them." They sell to farmers markets as far as Boise, Idaho, 50
miles away, and McCall, Idaho, 100 miles away.
Their reputation is growing. Even Idaho Senator Larry Craig stopped by
last year and bought a bag or two of onions. Craig later sent a picture
of him and Elizabeth Dole holding the bag of Fruitland Super Sweets.
"Some customers love them so much they're just about in tears when
they come back at the end of the season and we tell them we're all out,"
Geoff says. The lower sulfur content and higher water level that makes
it sweeter also makes it unable to store well, so the shelf life is very
short. Onions like Fruitland Super Sweets are ideal for slicing to use
on sandwiches or in salsas.
The coming year's Super Sweets have seen a lot of snow this year, but
Geoff says it's good for them because it makes a blanket to protect them
from the cold, dry weather. They are conventionally irrigated a few times
in the fall and spring before harvest.
For their regular onions grown during the summer, Geoff has been using
drip tape for the past six or seven years. Typically, he meets with workers
around 7 a.m. and sends them out to irrigate, spray or do anything else
that needs to be done.
"I used to try to get on a tractor, but I found with management I
don't have time to do that anymore," he says. "I'm the least
efficient person on a tractor because someone is always calling me on
my cell phone to say, 'Come look at this,' or 'This is broken down, come
fix this.'"
Last year the area saw record high temperatures in most of July, which
affected yield. Fields in Fruitland and across the river in Ontario, Ore.,
were also hit with a hail, damaging some onions.
"We had to disk up probably 20 acres or so," he says. "We
salvaged almost all of them and took them to the processor. We had one
pretty good field that didn't get hailed on, but it wasn't a storage type
so we sold it straight to the packing shed and came out pretty good."
"This is the first year I can remember that we didn't have any onions
in our storage," he adds. Because of the smaller supply anticipated
for the fresh market, Geoff believes it helped onion prices this year,
a welcome change from past years' slumps.
Growing onions can be a tough business, but it's the variety and challenge
Geoff loves so much. With each new year comes different weather conditions,
which favor certain diseases, and every year the market is different,
so it's hard to know what to expect. But every year, Geoff and other onion
farmers like him continue to supply the world with onions.
Looking at total U.S. onion consumption, Geoff figures that in one year,
his farm produces enough onions to feed the U.S. for only half a day.
"When you sit there and look at the acres and acres of onions when
they're binned up or when they're on the truckloads and think, that's
only enough for half a day? And we spent all year growing them? But it's
pretty impressive when you think how many people are in the U.S.,"
he says.
Plastic Films Improve the Early Harvesting of Vegetables in France
Onion World
February 2004
France has a temperate climate where springtime can sometimes be rather
cold. In order to offer vegetables to consumers in early spring, growers
took an interest in techniques likely to advance the ripening of their
products such as using plastic films and agricultural textiles. The use
of thin or thicker woven or non-woven films enables plant growth to be
accelerated and production to be regulated and protects crops from bad
weather, insects, and UV rays. Intended for multiple uses, these products
will become more and more biodegradable in the future.
Currently in France, over 61,000 acres of maize are sown under ground
covering, mainly in Brittany and northwestern France, being ensilage maize
producing regions where climatic conditions are cooler in the spring and
the temperature ranges are the least favorable for maize growth.
"Sown under plastic, the maize starts quicker as the soil heats up
quicker," explains Luc Sytsma, Plastic Cultivation Market manager
at the Paris-based company In Vivo, one of France's foremost distributors
of plastic cultivation products to the farming community. Harvesting can
be done two weeks early and crop yields can increase by as much as 4 to
5,000 lbs/acre. Planting an acre of maize under film represents a cost
increase of around 113 Euros (73 Euros for the film and 40 Euros for the
film laying machine) and thus it is only worthwhile in those regions where
it is possible to obtain a yield greater than 2,700 lbs/acre.
Ground covering is frequently used for vegetable growing of all kinds.
Melons, chicory, lettuces, green beans, onions broad beans, and new potatoes
are often produced on plastic ground covering in France.
"The plant's root system develops under the plastic and the plant
itself above," explains Patricia Erard from the CTIFL (Centre Technique
Interprofessionnel des Fruits et Légumes, France's Fruit and Vegetables
Inter-professional Technical Center). For example, in the south of France,
melons planted in March can gain 10 to 15 days growing time, enabling
them to be marketed when prices are 30 to 40 percent higher. Ground covering
optimizes early planting yields, improves fruit sanitary quality as the
plants are insulated from the soil and increases sugar content.
Black Films as Weed Killers
Ground covering is often formed of polyethylene film of varying thicknesses
depending on the crops, ranging from 10-12 microns for covering maize
to 80 microns for certain vegetable crops.
Color plays an important role. Black ground covering absorbs the sun's
rays completely and prevents weed growth, but it has a limited heating
effect. Translucent or clear films-allowing light to pass through-encourage
soil warming and, at the same time, encourage early growth.
Over the last few years, in many regions across France, farmers have been
replanting hedges to provide a habitat for birds and wild animals, to
fight against soil erosion and to break up monotonous landscapes. In all
cases, technicians advise them to lay a ground covering film to ensure
that their tree and bush plantings take root during the initial period
lasting generally between one and two years. The film enables moisture
to be retained in the soil and overcomes competition from weeds. It is
laid before planting. Then the farmer cuts criss-cross openings in it
to install the young shrubs. In this case, a rather thick film is chosen
as it has to withstand the first three to four years after planting.
In total, according to the Comité des Plastiques en Agriculture,
France's Plastics in Agriculture Committee, nearly 250,000 acres of land
are covered with plastic ground covering every year in France.
Protection from Wind, Cold
Market gardeners also use perforated polyethylene film (with from 50 to
100 holes per sq. ft.) that they lay not between the soil and the plant,
but just above the plants as a windbreak.
"For several years now, we are also offering white non-woven polypropylene
sheets for protecting crops from the cold," explains Dominique Landelle
from Celloplast, a company based in western France, specialized in agricultural
textiles. "The sheeting allows air and water to pass through, while
offering protection from the wind and cold by creating a microclimate
around the crop. It enables 4 or 5 F to be saved and, for example, it
is these few degrees that can save a lettuce crop from being destroyed
by frost." The polypropylene sheets are produced by extruding filaments
randomly dispersed in all directions. The sheets are then pressed and
heat welded.
"This explains their excellent resistance to tearing and stretching
in both directions," states Luc Sytsma.
Pierre Defalque from Agriweb, a company based in Alsace, estimates the
annual French market gardening and horticulture renewal market at around
650,000,000 sq. ft. (14,800 acres). Generally, polypropylene sheets are
used several times, lasting on average over two years, meaning that currently
in France nearly 30,000 acres of fruit and vegetables are grown under
non-woven agricultural textiles.
Films and non-woven sheets are laid directly on the crop but they can
also be installed in the form of mini-tunnels on hoops or on greenhouse
structures of varying heights, depending on the type of crop cultivated.
Woven polypropylene strips in thin rolls are also offered, and are used
particularly for horticultural applications.
Organics and Insects
Certain vegetable growers use polyamide or polyester anti-insect netting.
These nets, with a regular mesh, offer mechanical crop protection and
do not alter the microclimate at ground level. "Until recently, this
market has been in its infancy, but it is currently enjoying rapid growth,"
underlines Dominique Landelle from Celloplast. These nets are of particular
interest to organic producers who are not allowed to use insecticides,
as well as to non-organic producers seeking thereby to make their crops
safe. Before planting their crop, they know that it will be perfectly
protected against insects and they also know the cost of this protection,
and can thus calculate their production costs from the outset. While with
insecticides, they never know just how much they will be required to apply."
The use of agricultural textiles is also growing for big-bag storage applications.
Ets. Fouquet notably offers woven bags for storing seeds or fertilizers.
Agricultural textiles and greenhouse covering films can be reused once
or several times depending on the applications, and thereafter they are
collected to be recycled via traditional recycling circuits. However,
this is not the case for the very thin films used for crop ground covering.
Recycling companies are reluctant to process them as they are often very
dirty. For this reason, the manufacturers have perfected photodegradable
and now biodegradable plastics. These films, using new materials, are
currently undergoing testing by the CTIFL in terms of their technical
quality and their environmental characteristics. Currently, their cost
still remains an obstacle to widespread usage but habits are in the process
of changing.
Biodegradable Materials
"Polyethylene films used in ground coverings can be coated with additives
to render them both more sensitive to Ultra Violet (UV) rays and to limit
or delay the action of the UV rays," states Luc Sytsma from In Vivo.
"By altering these additives, manufacturers have succeeded in perfecting
films that stay in place long enough for the crop to ripen and then disintegrate
completely on the soil surface, under the actions of UV rays as well under
the actions of mechanical stress and temperature."
This photo-degradation method is not perfect for those parts of the film
buried in the ground. Over the last few years, manufacturers have focused
on materials that are assimilated better by microorganisms in the soil.
Research has mainly been directed on two avenues: biodegradable polymers
derived from petrochemicals, such as polyesters that are biologically
assimilated by microorganisms, and polymers made from maize starch often
mixed with polyester. Prosyn Polyane is working with materials derived
from cereal starch and chemical polymers.
Editor's Note: This article was prepared by Blandine Cailliez, a technical
freelance writer in Paris. For more information, please contact the French
Technology press office at (312) 327-5260 or contact.ftpo@ubifrance.com.
Breeders at Cornell Develop Disease Resistant Onion
Onion World
February 2004
ITHACA, N.Y.—For onion growers battling botrytis leaf blight, a crop-decimating
disease, relief is on the way. Cornell University plant scientists have
breached the plant's tough sexual barrier to cross two species and develop
a first draft of a botrytis-resistant onion. The way is now paved for
scientists to bring the onion to commercial quality and, perhaps, make
it resistant to other diseases as well.
Martha Mutschler, Cornell professor of plant breeding, unveiled her research
team's results Feb. 11 at the 2004 Empire State Fruit and Vegetable Expo
in the Riverside Convention Center, Rochester, N.Y. Her research collaborators
were Jim Lorbeer, Cornell professor of plant pathology; research associate
Edward Cobb; and graduate student Pablo A. Goldschmied.
Mutschler's team obtained the resistance from A. roylei , a wild plant
species related to the onion and held at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
germ plasm cold-storage facility at Fort Collins, Colo. She describes
this rock-garden plant as a "treasure trove of resistances."
The major obstacle was breaking down the onion's sexual barriers to cross
the two species. Strong sexual barriers reduced the onion plant's fertility
and seed quantity. "Without seeds, a breeding program is stuck,"
she says.
In 2001, Mutschler and her colleagues concentrated on obtaining seed from
botrytis-resistant back-cross plants, their progeny and other resistant
plants, but sexual barriers limited seed production from zero to 20 seeds
per plant. However, three back-crossed plants produced more than 100 seeds.
"This segregation for superior seed production shows that the sexual
barriers are under genetic control and that fecundity is probably a recessive
trait derived from the onion parent," she says.
By the summer of 2002, more than half of the back-crossed plants yielded
resistance, and more than 94 percent produced onion like bulbs.
Last spring, a total of 112 resistant onion plants sprouted. Mutschler
says bulbs were retested for botrytis resistance, evaluated for pollen
production and used in seed production. About 20 of the botrytis-resistant,
back-crossed plants had adequate pollen fertility and produced good seed
levels.
"To put these results in perspective, we produced considerably more
seed from botrytis-resistant plants in one year than we had produced in
all prior years on the project combined," says Mutschler. "This
is evidence that the inter-specific barriers between onions and A. roylei
have been fully overcome in some of our selections and that completion
of the transfer of the dominant botrytis resistance to the onion should
proceed far more readily."
The seed will be grown in 2004 and screened for resistance. Mutschler
says that with greater availability of seed, greater selection for plant
type also should be possible, accelerating completion of the transfer.
Over the next growing season, she hopes to improve the onion's firmness,
size and number of centers. Botrytis-resistant onions could be ready within
a few years.
The research was funded by the New York State Onion Growers Association's
check-off program, administered through the New York State Department
of Agriculture and Markets.
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