Mixed Onion Harvest in Idaho and Oregon

Parma—After one of the most disastrous winters in history, the region's battered onion industry is back up and running.

Despite a slow start and low yields, strong market prices have growers enthusiastic. 

“This is the second highest price I’ve ever seen,”said Shay Meyers of Owyhee produce. “Onions are selling for $10 per 50-pound sack. Last year they were going for $4 dollars. We have a long way to go but we’re cautiously optimistic this season because we think we have a manageable crop,”

Last winter Idaho and Oregon suffered through a heavy winter. By the end of January more than six feet of snow collapsed 60 onion storage sheds in Canyon, Washington and Malheur County, Oregon.

The storms also wiped out a good chunk of last year’s bumper onion crop causing more than a $100 million of damage and collapsed buildings.

Last year at this time onions were selling for $3.50 a sack. When a third of the crop was lost, demand in February pushed the price past the $10 mark. 

This year the onion trucks started rolling two and a half weeks late. The crop got a late start due to wet, cold spring weather. Four weeks later a change in the weather created a 6-week heat wave. Meyers says because of the challenges this crop won’t top last season’s bumper yields.

“We’re late with harvest this year because of that cold spring. It was hard to get planted in all of that mud. Right now we’re starting to lift the onions out of the dirt and the hot days are good for drying them on the warm ground,” said Jon Watson of the JC Watson Company out of Parma.

Packers are dealing with the lower yields, rebuilding sheds and budgets are tight.

Myers said Owyhee Produce lost four storage sheds. The main packing house was damaged but continued operations through the winter. Myers said eastern Oregon was hit first so their buildings were the first to be rebuilt and they’re off to an earlier start than Idaho neighbors. 

“In terms of storage, all of our buildings have been rebuilt. We were fortunate in our misfortune and were able to rebuild first. We’re ready now for storage. We were affected first, our storages are complete” said Meyers.

In Parma JC Watson Company had a partial collapse of one of their main sheds in January.

“We're rebuilding and everything is updated and state of the art," Jon Watson said. The new sheds he refers to are climate controlled and can adjust to weather conditions. Onions, potatoes and many other stored vegetable crops require humidity, a constant temperature and either low-light or no light. The technology can adjust to outside climactic conditions to keep the crop in prime condition prior to shipping. 

"Over the past five years we’ve been building new multi-tasking storing sheds that can handle the heat and the cold and we can change the climate at different times of the year for a reason. We have the ability to turn storage climates into weather conditions that we don’t have at the time, things like turn night into day," Watson said.

Spanish bulb onions grown in Idaho and Oregon make up a third of the total US crop. They’re typically stored and sold later in the marketing year. Market prices are improving because of the late harvest and several other factors.

“California got done early, Washington is just getting started and we’re going to be late," said Watson. "Because of the late start we are probably going to see a smaller size profile. Add the lateness to harvest and there’s not as many onions offered for sale right now."

Treasure Valley and eastern Oregon onion farmers grow more than 1- billion pounds of onions each year, making this the nation’s largest onion-growing region in terms of volume.

At least 90 percent of the onions grown in the region are yellow, while the rest are red and white varieties. Harvest usually starts in August and wraps up by the end of October.

There are 36 packing sheds in the region and the industry’s annual economic impact is an estimated $1.3 billion.

Onion acreage is close to 20,000 this year but production estimates are well off last year's record season.

“Compared to 2016 we’ll see a 30 percent reduction in yields," said Meyers. "Last year we had record yields that were 15 to 20-percent over normal yield averages. And this year we’re 10-15 percent below an average year.”

From restaurants to big box stores, Watson says this year’s crop will impact major retailers across the nation.

“We ship our product all over the country," he said. "We’re servicing outlets like Walmart and Taylor Farms. Taylor makes fresh cut onions for all of the major restaurant chains. Today we’re packing for Outback restaurants and they’re big onions but not as many as last year."

Producers stress that it's still early in the season and the most worrisome part of the year will start when they move onions into storage. They say storage will be tight with no guarantees that prices will hold.

“The market today is between $9 and $10 dollars," said Watson. "We hope they’ll stay. We hope that stays throughout the storage process. We haven't harvested one onion for storage yet. They’re still out on the ground and some of the crop is still growing."

2017 is a year of wild contrasts for onion producers. They had one of the biggest crops ever in storage followed by 40 inches of snow. The collapses took a big chunk of the bumper crop and caused $100 million in shed damage.

“Prices are good, but like I said before we need two years profit this fall to make up for last years losses. I know it is a lot to hope for but it’s all we've got,” said Meyers.