In addition to touring Sakata Farms fields north of Fort Lupton, CO, on Sept. 5 to look results from 39 cultivars trialed for this year’s Colorado Onion Variety Field Day, attendees were also updated on issues such as crop health and pests.
The annual event, hosted by the Colorado State University Extension’s Adam County office in Brighton, drew individuals “from the industry, and onion stakeholders were updated on seven different crop health and pest evaluations taken from April to August 2019,” according to Dr. Thaddeus Gourd, Director of Adams County Extension.
Dr. Gourd and Communications Technician Chris Uhing also gave the group a first-hand look at a customized planter box device created from a 3-D printer that Dr. Gourd said has been designed “to help improve the planting of research plot onions.”
At the breakfast meeting that preceded the field tour, Tyler Mason, a CSU Ph.D. candidate, provided a summary of his findings from this summer that evaluate evaluating organic herbicides on onions. The National Onion Association’s Director of Public and Industry Relations René Hardwick also updated the group on U.S. onion crop conditions and 2019 planted acreage.
The tour followed, with participants comparing the 39 tested varieties in the research plots.
Dr. Gourd has provided a summary of the seven parameters researched to date and noted that onion harvesting and processing will occur in mid-September.
Photos courtesy of Dr. Thaddeus Gourd
