Onion industry veteran Dale DeBerry, who is forming an new business and will announce that direction in coming weeks, checked in with an update on the Mexican onion deal.
He said it “looks like the Mexican transplants are in, and grower/shippers are looking forward to a things going well this season.” Dale also said that Mexican growers have not expressed undue concerns about weather, believing there will be plenty of water to sustain a similar overall acreage of last year.
“On average an individual grower will raise between 200 and 300 acres to supplement there other vegetable crops and their preferred crop, which is grain,” DeBerry said. “It looks like this season’s crop is on target for harvest in mid-February and March.”
DeBerry’s grower/shipper connections raise 75 percent yellows, 15 percent whites and 10 percent reds, but the onion vet said that is not necessarily standard for Mexican growers.
“Some growers do increase their percentages of whites when they can, but yellows remain high because Mexican Walmarts have focused heavily marketing yellows in recent years. The Mexican population will choose a yellow onion over white if it is less expensive, and so yellows remain the largest percentage of the Mexican crop.”