Featured image: Industrial Ventilation, Inc. team networks with growers at the Idaho-Malheur County Growers Meeting Expo
The 2023 Idaho-Malheur County Onion Growers Meeting held Feb. 7 at the Four Rivers Cultural Center in Ontario, OR, brought a good crowd and was highlighted by the induction of onion veterans Jerry Baker and Herb Haun to the Hall of Fame.
Among those making presentations was Stuart Reitz, director of Oregon State University’s Malheur Station in Ontario, who recapped the event and said a number of concerns were discussed by attendees.
Stuart said the meeting went well, and the vendors at the trade show were glad to be back in Ontario’s cultural center. And, he added, “It was good to see Jerry Baker and Herb Haun get inducted into the Hall of Fame.”
Keying in on issues farmers are facing, Stuart said, “I think the growers’ major concerns are their escalating input prices and what happens if the economy heads into a recession.” In addition, he cited ag labor and weather.
“As luck would have it (or perhaps through good planning), the meeting touched on all of those topics,” Stuart said.
“As always, the growers appreciate Gina Greenway’s look at onion economics,” he continued. Greenway, who heads up Greenway Consulting, tackled “Cost of Production and IPM Analysis for Treasure Valley Growers.
“People feel she has a good handle on the costs, and over time her assessments are more and more accurate – maybe even better than everyone’s proverbial ‘neighbor.’ That’s a reflection that she’s learned much about the industry and that growers and allied industry members see the value in her work and help by engaging with her and sharing information.”
Riley Griffin with Ages Farm Credit spoke on the 2023 Economic Outlook, and Stuart said the presentation was a “big-picture look at factors that have been driving input costs for farmers.” Also related to input costs and economics was Jen Uranga’s presentation.
Jen, with Mountain West Ag Consulting and Gem Ag Professionals, “gave a solid update on the H-2A program,” Stuart said. “As she said, it’s not a perfect program, but the program is working to help meet the ag labor shortage. She had good advice on engaging with political leaders – that H-2A is a guest worker program and not an immigration issue.”
Stuart said he things “improvements to H-2A could be made without delving into the political mess that immigration reform would be.”
And he said Matt Reardon with the Nutrien weather forecasting team, “walked the audience through the weather and what to expect in 2023.”
Stuart said, “No one was excited about the prospects for another extremely hot summer, but it is always good to know what to expect. Hopefully, if/when El Nino returns, it won’t be strong enough to put us into more drought conditions.”
OnionBusiness.com gathered photos from the event. Click on images to enlarge and scroll.
