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- Onion Industry Consolidates,
Returns Stabilize From Past
- By Karen Gentry
Associate Editor
- The onion industry in the U.S., like other commodities, has undergone concentration and consolidation. Onions are grown from coast to coast with Washington, Idaho, Eastern Oregon, New York, Western Oregon and California leading the way.
Wayne Mininger, executive vice president of the National Onion Association, based in Greeley, Colo., represents about half of the 1,200 fresh and storage onion growers in the country and a majority of the production. He said there are fewer grower entities, buyers and suppliers, although onion acreage has gone up in the last 10 years.
Mininger said the onion industry has stabilized after suffering low prices two years ago. “Prices were disastrously low, not even approaching the cost of production,” said Mininger. He said production was cut back last year out of financial necessity resulting in a reasonable rejuvenation of prices.
“Returns can be fair this year,” he said.
Across the country more than 4,000 varieties of onions are grown including yellows, reds, and whites. Mininger said approximately 88% of onions grown are yellow. “That is the big volume item,” he said. Yellow onions are very popular with Hispanics and Hispanic cooking, according to Mininger. He said reds and whites are considered more of a niche product used when color and appearance might be important.
U.S. farmers plant approximately 145,000 acres of onions, producing approximately six billion pounds of onions (excluding dehydration production) each year, according to the National Onion Association. The annual value of the U.S. onion crop is $800 million and nearly $3-$4 billion at retail, according to association statistics.
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Leading onion producing
states and acres
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Washington
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20,000
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| Idaho & Eastern Oregon |
19,600
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| New York |
12,700
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Colorado
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12,390
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| Western Oregon |
5,000
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California
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4,750
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| Michigan |
3,800
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Source: National Onion Association, 2000
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- Most onions in the country are direct planted by seed in the field, Mininger said. He said an increasing amount of onions are started in cedar beds and then transplanted.
Onions are grown in three different segments, Mininger said. Some onions are planted in the fall and harvested in the spring, some are planted in the winter and harvested in the summer while storage onions are planted in the spring and harvested in the fall. Some areas like California produce onions in all the different phases, he said.
Onions are grown on all types of soil from clays, sandy and loams to the organic muck soils of the Midwest and Northeast; some onion fields are irrigated and some are rainfall dependent, according to Mininger. He said growing onions is expensive and subject to weather extremes. “They need a lot of expensive protection and care,” he said. Onions require quite a bit of water throughout the growing season.
Over 25% of all fresh bulb onions consumed in the United States each year come from the Snake River Valley of Southwestern Idaho and Malheur County, Oregon. Growers used to supply onions to the mining camps in the West and the first carload of onions was shipped from the area around 1910, said Larry Link, office manager of the Idaho-Eastern Oregon Onion Committee.
Through a federal marketing order onions from this region must meet strict size, shape, and quality standards. Farmers in Idaho/Eastern Oregon plant yellow, red, and white varieties of sweet Spanish seed, sometimes called “Spanish Onions” or “Spanish Sweets.” While the region’s onions come in a wide variety of sizes, the majority of the onions measure three inches in diameter or larger. There are several other marketing orders for onions in the country including Walla Walla, Wash., Georgia and Texas.
The National Onion Association has been around since 1913 and has been based in Colorado since 1976. The association was based first in Ohio before moving to Michigan in the mid-1950s, Mininger said.
The association has been encouraged by the increased consumption of onions that has been going “up at a fairly aggressive pace,” Mininger said.
Recent research show onions contain phytochemicals that may help reduce the risk of some cancers and cardiovascular disorders. Onions contain quercetin that are also included in teas and apples. Onions may help prevent gastric ulcers, hardening of the arteries, strokes and reduce the risk of osteoporosis.
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