By René Hardwick, Director of Public and Industry Relations
National Onion Association
Onion harvest will be here before you know it, but so will the National Onion Association’s summer convention. This year, the NOA’s summer meeting will be in Boise, ID, from July 6-9.
We will be at the Grove Hotel in downtown Boise, 245. S. Capitol Blvd., and with a room rate of $159 a night. Registration should be open by mid-April.
Not all of the details have been totally worked out as of this writing, but you can expect golf great speakers and tours, and you know you can expect a lively and fun auction with Austin Booker.
We’ll get started with a reception on Wednesday, July 6, and run through Saturday, July 9 with our traditional crop report breakfast. One main topic of discussion is the revamp of the Bulb Onion Industry’s Food Safety Guidelines, which will ensure the entire industry that we are serious about adhering to practices to keep our product safe in the field and through our supply chain. Our leadership has been working with United Fresh to revamp this 12-year-old document, and we hope to have a finished version after discussions in Idaho. Your input is so important, so we can all have some ownership.
Bruce Summers, administrator for the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service, will be on hand to discuss the Market News report, and how to use it. Market News disseminates detailed information on marketing conditions for hundreds of agricultural commodities at major domestic and international wholesale markets, production areas, and ports of entry. Using direct contacts with salespersons, suppliers, brokers, and buyers, Market News reporters collect, validate, analyze, and organize unbiased data on price, volume, quality, and condition, making it available within hours of collection at no cost to you.
We also have invited Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho to discuss immigration policy. Sen. Crapo sits on the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. He served on the Senate Agriculture Committee for seven years.
The National Onion Association is serious about making onions a part of the conversation that deals with several ag-related policymaking. If you are not a member and want to attend, please call the office at (970) 353-5895.
