Onion World: The Voice of the Onion Industry

NOA Summer Regional Convention Report:

Attendees Take a Look at One of the Nation’s Premier Onion Production Areas

Onion World
September/October 2005

ONTARIO, Ore. – Members of the National Onion Association (NOA) attending the association’s summer regional convention July 20-23 were able to take a close look at one of the nation’s premier onion production areas, the Treasure Valley.

Hosted by the Idaho-Eastern Oregon onion associations, the convention was held at the Holiday Inn in Ontario, Ore.

As most onion production areas, Treasure Valley onion growers took a hard hit last year due to a nationwide onion market glut. A number of fields were left unharvested and tons of onions already in storage were dumped. It was not a pretty marketing year in terms of profitability.

Varying Optimism
During a guided agricultural tour, which included stops at various onion fields, growers manifest varying optimism about the 2005 fall crop. Challenged by thrips, yellow nutsedge and other production challenges, many fields were less than pristine. Growers predicted quality will be excellent but yields down.

The tour included stops at Oregon State University’s Malheur Experiment Station; Fort Boise Produce, a state-of-the art onion packing shed which utilizes Aweta-Autoline electronic sizer and sorting equipment; TopAir Inc., a manufacturer of onion harvesting equipment; Nunhems’ high-tech seed processing facility; a high-tech onion storage; and a drip-irrigated onion field farmed by Craig Yano.

Clint Shock, station superintendent, and Lynn Jensen, Malheur County extension agent, were on hand to brief visitors during the Malheur Experiment Station stop. Shock is well known for his drip irrigation research, and Jensen has done extensive research on thrips control.

Commenting on his drip irrigation work, Shock noted the importance of providing adequate, but not too much, moisture. Water stress during various growth stages has been linked to double-centered onions, he pointed out. Likewise, overirrigating with drip can lead to bulb decomposition in the field and rot development later in storage.

Severe Thrips Challenge
Local growers are dealing with one of the most challenging thrips control seasons ever, Jensen said, noting that he cannot remember a year when the thrips pressure has been so intense. He is experimenting with everything from new and yet-to-be registered products to a combination of older chemistries and natural predators (i.e., big-eyed bugs).
The alternative program appears to be doing a better job than standard treatments, the researcher reported. Growers are seeing mounting thrips resistance to commonly used products.

“Success® (spinosad) looks great but is very costly,” he told the group, adding that Carzol®, an unregistered product, also works extremely well.

Yellow nutsedge is the No. 1 weed problem in the Treasure Valley and is an even greater threat to onion yields than thrips, the country extension agent said.

Jim and Warren Farmer are the owners of Fort Boise Produce, located in Parma, Idaho, the second stop on the trip. The company’s new state-of-the-art, 40,000-ft2 packing facility was opened in August of 2004. It is equipped with an automated, computerized sorting line from Aweta-Autoline that enables management to efficiently sort by size and color. The handling equipment designed by Aweta-Autoline and Concept Design Manufacture treats onions moving through the plant as gently as possible while maintaining high efficiency.

A third stop took place at TopAir Inc., also located in Parma. Guests visited the plant where both TopAir and TopGreen product lines are manufactured. The company’s onion and garlic harvesters are sold throughout the world. The TopGreen product line, which will harvest a field of green onions, is one of the company’s latest technological introductions.

Visited the Nunhems’ Seed Plant
Lunch was served at Nunhems’ headquarter plant and seed processing facility, also in Parma. Nunhems is a world leader in the development, production and marketing of hybrid vegetable seed and seed technology. Its roots go back to 1845, when a small seed operation, the Plant Seed Company, opened for business in St. Louis, Mo. In the ensuing years, the company moved west and merged with several other seed companies, including Sunseeds, Keystone Seed, Desert Seed and Castle Seed. In 1997, Sunseeds became part of the Nunza B.V. group of companies, which markets the Nunhems brand throughout the world.

NOA guests split up into small groups and toured the plant before enjoying a catered lunch.

The next stop was at a sophisticated $2 million onion storage owned by Charlie Morgan, a retired Industrial Ventilation executive. Leased out, the last load of onions stored in the building this year was taken out on June 20.

During the final stop at the Craig Yano farm, the grower said he was in his fifth year of using drip irrigation. The field on display was among the finest in appearance in the valley. Yano uses a GPS system and buries his tape two to three inches in the middle of each row. The drip system is used for both chemigation and thrips control. Tapes are discarded at the end of each year. Approximately 20 percent of the onions in the Treasure Valley are under drip irrigation, Shock told the group.

Greenspirit Speaker
During the earlier general session and educational presentations, Wayne Mininger and Kim Redden, NOA executive vice president and director of public and industry relations, respectively, gave their reports. They were followed by Tom Tevlin, president/CEO of Greenspirit Strategies LTD, and president of Consensus Works Consultants Inc. A journalist by trade, Tevlin works with leading global industry, government and environmental/social agencies to establish environmental reputation management campaigns. These are related to many areas including forestry, aquaculture, biotechnology and polymers. Tevlin also is a founding team-member of the Forest Alliance.

The closing banquet remarks were given by Pat Takasugi, in his 9th year as director/secretary of the Idaho State Department of Agriculture. A grower/shipper, he also continues to farm more than 1,400 irrigated row crop acres near Wilder and Homedale, Idaho.

During the closing breakfast and crop reporting session, delegates estimated there are approximately 82,090 acres of late summer and fall storage onions in the ground this year. This is down 6,693 acres from what was reported at the conference a year earlier. Slight acreage declines were reported in New York, the North Dakota-Minnesota area, Wisconsin, California, Colorado, Idaho-Eastern Oregon, West/Central Oregon and Washington. The biggest drop was in Idaho-Eastern Oregon, where growers, stung from poor returns in the marketplace, trimmed their plantings by 2,800 acres.

Progress of the coming crop was mixed, according to those reporting conditions in each area. While most areas reported a good to excellent crop in the making, others were wrestling with marginal stands, heat-related challenges, heavy thrips populations and weed infestations expected to reduce yields.

Late Summer/Fall Storage Acreage Estimates
(courtesy of the National Onion Association)

State 2003 2004 2005
New York 11,700 11,550 11,250
Michigan 3,300 3,200 3,200
N. Dak./Minn. 570 628 410
Ohio 382 400 400
Wisconsin 2,100 2,100 2,000
California 4,900 5,200 5,100
Colorado 10,975 11,265 10,330
Idaho-E. Oregon 21,900 23,600 20,800
Utah 2,200 1,800 1,800
West/Cen. Oregon 4,450 5,200 4,645
Washington 19,100 20,750 19,030
Other 3,150 3,090 3,125
U.S. Total 84,727 88,783 82,090

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