Washington:
Larry Baumann, owner of L&L Ag Production in Connell, WA, told OnionBusiness.com on Sept. 7, “A lot of drip irrigated growers are pulling tape and lifting. Storage harvest will start next week.”
Utah:
Don Ed Holmes of The Onion House in Weslaco, TX, Olathe, CO, and Corinne, UT, told us the Utah deal is “right on track to start shipping Oct. 15.” He said, “Utah quality is beautiful, and there’s a good mix of all colors and sizes.”
Colorado – Western Slope:
Cooler weather has slightly delayed CO Western Slope onions for The Onion House, according to Don Ed Holmes. “They are running a little late,” he said on Sept. 7, noting that even the region’s sweet corn is still shipping, which is unusually late for that item. “It’s been cool, and the onions are coming along all right, but they’re late. We’ll start lifting them next week, and it will probably be Sept. 19 when they start running.” He said quality is looking good, but he noted, “Sizes out of the Western Slope are a little smaller than last year. We’ll have a few more mediums this season.”
Colorado – Front Range:
Robert T. Sakata at Sakata Farms in Brighton told us recently his operation was still harvesting sweet corn and would move into onions when corn is finished. “We have about nine days left,” he said in early September. “After that is done then we will start to harvest our onions.” Sakata Farms ships onions through March.
Colorado – Ark Valley and Kansas:
Derek Innis of L&M Cos. said his operation has been harvesting fields for the Colorado and Kansas areas, but light rains have held up crews. Ennis said the rain shouldn’t be much of an issue and expects harvest will ramp up as soon as it dries out a bit. He said quality is looking very good for the season start up, with size profiles for the area slightly on the smaller side. As more onions come in, L&M should have good supplies of mediums and small jumbos shipped from the area.
