Featured image: Tamura Farms red onion, courtesy of Dwayne Fisher with Champion Produce in Parma. ID
MARKET
New York:
Michelle Gurda with A. Gurda Produce in Pine Island reported on Aug. 7 that her company is currently shipping onions out of California and New Mexico. “Demand has slowed down this week on the onion side of our business,” she said. “But it isn’t surprising. It’s just a typical August – the slower demand is expected. We have seen the market dip a little on yellows, but everything else is holding, and the quality continues to be good.”
New Mexico:
Charlie Gray with L&M Cos. in Raleigh, NC, told us on Aug. 7 that L&M is still shipping out of New Mexico. “Demand has been good for us this week,” Charlie said. “It’s been pretty equal across the board for all sizes and colors, too. For us, the market has remained steady. But that has a lot to do with our quality. It has been really good all season long.” He added, “We will continue to ship out of New Mexico for the next three weeks, and then we’ll transition to our Kansas and Warden, WA, operations. From the reports we are getting on those crops, we should have a smooth transition as the quality in both Washington and Kansas is looking very good.”
Idaho-E. Oregon:
Chris Woo with Owyhee Produce in Parma, ID, told us on Aug. 7 that operation is running all colors and sizes now, “mostly jumbos with a few supers and colossals.” He said, “We’re getting the trade switched over to new crop.” Owyhee started running 2019’s Treasure Valley onions on July 29, and Chris said quality is good. “The market is a little unsettled right now. We started off with good pricing and are making some adjustments, but it’s still good. Demand has been decent from the get-go.” The shed will run its early non-storage onions into September, he said. Harvest will likely run until early to mid-October. Owyhee also grows and ships organic Spanish Sweets, and Chris said it has “a few more this year than last year, and we’re getting more interest all the time.” The all-yellow organics are primarily for retail, and Chis said he recently attended the Organic Produce Summit in Monterey, CA, to meet with existing and potential customers.
California Central Valley/Idaho-E. Oregon:
Dwayne Fisher with Champion Produce Sales told us on Aug. 7, “It’s go time in the Treasure Valley, or will be Tuesday! Next week we will be packing on a limited basis at Champion. This will be our week to finish up product in California (be finished next Friday, Aug. 16) and get our line and crew all dialed in here in Idaho.” He added, “The product we will be packing next week is curing in our storages and looks beautiful. We will have yellows, reds and whites, and the whites are the prettiest I have ever seen this time of year. It is a new variety and wow! More of that variety will get planted next year.” Dwayne went on to say, “In terms of market I think we will see things settle out this next week as more areas get finished or get close to finishing. Limited volume and shippers are starting here, so it should stay double digits on the yellows and higher single digits on the reds. Whites and large size yellows should remain very strong.” He continued, “The quality and service in Idaho will be as good as ever, and I know our customers are ready to be back here for the long haul. For our farms and growers, we aren’t needing to move a ton of product early, and so we aren’t in any race to see where the bottom is, nor should anyone be. He concluded, “It has been a fantastic summer for onion revenue! The growers and the buyers have been able to make some healthy returns this summer while shipping good volume, and there’s no reason to screw that up now.”
Steve Baker with Baker & Murakami Produce in Ontario, OR, weighed in on Aug. 7 first on California’s Central Valley, saying, “We are still shipping out of Huron, and we should be done packing out of there sometime the week of Aug. 19” He noted that demand “has been slower this week than the previous few weeks,” saying it’s been stronger “on the larger sizes than the smaller sized onions.” Steve said pricing has been lower on all sizes and colors this week from last. He said Baker & Murakami will be starting new crop Idaho-E. Oregon onions on Aug. 12, adding, “We will have yellows, whites and reds at the start.” And he said, “Out of California we have good supply of yellows now with limited supplies of reds and only a handful of whites.”
Broker’s Perspective:
Rick Greener with Greener Produce based in Ketchum, ID, reported from his “Free Range” operation while out of the country this week. “We are shipping from numerous regions,” Rick said. “We have onions coming out of Cali, New Mexico, Idaho, Washington and a few out of Oregon.” He continued, “Right now, onions out of New Mexico are commanding the highest prices. Demand has been very good, and despite more regions coming on, the market has remained stable. Pricing has come off a little, but you know, all in all, shippers are holding their ground, and the market is good.” Rick said, “Supplies seem to be tight for supers and colossals, with pre-packs on the tight side as well. Mediums are good to go. Availability out of the Northwest is mainly yellows, but we’ll see more colors added to the mix in the next couple of weeks.” And, he said, “We’ll continue to ship out of New Mexico for a couple of weeks, and onions out of California could extend for the next two to four weeks, depending on quality and customers’ desire to switch to new crop. My recommendation at this point in the game is getting out your suspenders because there is definitely the opportunity for the market to stay strong.”
CROP
Washington:
Larry Bauman with L&L Ag Production in Connell told us on Aug. 7, “We have been harvesting on our early onions since July 18, and they have worked out well. The Pasco crop is sizing well and should be a normal yield. The north crop between Connell and Othello has surprised us lately, and having near-perfect growing weather during June and July should give us a near-normal crop.” He added, “We feel it will be less yield than the past two years but should store and ship very well. We plan on going into storage at our normal first week of September time frame.”
New York:
Michelle Gurda with A. Gurda Produce in Pine Island said on Aug. 7 that the New York crop harvest will begin late August-early September. “We’ve kept the same onion program that we had last year, and things are looking good,” she said. “We should be ready to go at the end of the month or the beginning of September. We will know more when we get closer.”
