Photos and Video, courtesy of Mike Blake and Robert Bell with Western Onion
OnionBusiness.com is pleased to provide our readers with the latest onion update for New Zealand and Australian onion crop progress from Mike Blake with New Zealand Onion Company Ltd. Many thanks to Mike and our friend Robert Bell for sharing the update and for sending along great crop photos and the latest Kalfresh Onion Harvest video in Queensland.
Mike’s report as of November 10 said, “The crops in Pukekohe continue to develop as normal. The Short-Day onions are ready to harvest in the weeks ahead. The first of the Intermediate day crop, Early Long Keepers (ELK), or Storage Onions known to those in the United States, should be ready to dig from early January 2024.”
He added, “Growing conditions have turned from wet and windy to dry and windy and some irrigation is underway currently. While it is still too early to make any estimates in yields and quality just now, crops are on track and with a good 5-6 weeks.”
Mike concluded his report saying, “With good weather we should have a normal crop for the first of the export crops (ELK), the main crop, and reds for lifting in late January and February. They still have a lot of growing to do and still too early to make any predictions just now. The long-term outlook is for hot and dry conditions for the next 2-3 months.”
We invite you wo enjoy the video of the KalFresh Queensland video below.
