OnionBusiness.com’s Sherise Jones caught up with numerous onion friends during the 2021 PNVA Conference this week at the Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick, WA.
And, she reported, the overwhelming response from the folks was they were glad to have the conference back and in person this year.
Norman “Snap” Keene said, “You know, I have been coming to the PNVA for many years, and it’s a great local event where I can connect with a lot of Eqraft and Pivotal Advantage customers on both the onion and potato side. It’s just a nice place to connect.”
Mark Sebelien with Verbruggen echoed the sentiment, saying, “Verbruggen has two offices that service the world, one in the Netherlands and the other in Pasco, WA. We have so many customers here in the immediate area, and it just makes sense that we would be at the conference to visit and network with our customers.”
On the seed side of the onion industry, Seedway was at the expo in force with a large sales team and welcomed new Washington sales member Donavin Buck. Zane Beams with Seedway said, “This is a good show for us. We always take the opportunity to visit with growers here before the new season gets started.”
Rene Emch with Enza Zaden was especially pleased to be exhibiting at this year’s event to share the company’s success with three new varieties. The first was Tannat, a full-season red that, among other qualities, boasts excellent color, high yields, and long storage, and it is stress-tolerant. Also showcased this year by Enza was Barolo, which fills the mid-maturing slot. It is a red with great firmness, good skin quality also great color. Finally, Rene showcased an early yellow, the Elyse, at the expo. Rene said the yellow is a great mild onion to get the season started with a nice size profile. He mentioned that there is good seed availability in each of the three varieties, and they are available through all Enza seed dealers.
Now take a look at more of the great suppliers and vendors that took part in this year’s PNVA:
