After a warmer-than-normal winter, Walla Walla sweet onion growers anticipate a normal start and normal volumes for the upcoming deal out of the federally designated production area in the Walla Walla Valley in southeastern Washington and northeastern Oregon.
“The crop looks good,” said Bill Dean, a grower with River Point Farms, Hermiston, Ore., and one of 16 members of the Walla Walla Sweet Onion Marketing Committee advisory board.
Dean grows Walla Walla sweets on 85 acres in the Touchet, Wash., area. He said acreage was slightly down from a year ago.
“There’s no disease at this point, and I haven’t heard of any big issues, so I think it should be a decent crop,” he said.
Onion growers in various regions across the U.S. have described recent markets in less-than-glowing terms, thanks to an abundance of storage crop left over from the winter.
Some say the Vidalia sweet onion crop out of Georgia, which precedes the Walla Walla deal, generally is a reliable barometer for forecasting the upcoming Walla Walla crop.
“It more depends on the Georgia deal (with Vidalia sweet onions), which comes right before ours,” Dean said.
“If they start out strong, that helps us.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported May 29 that 40-pound cartons of sweet granex onions from the Vidalia district were $16-18 for jumbos and $14 for mediums. A year earlier, the same product was $9-10 for jumbos and $8 for mediums.
On June 30, 2011, 40-pound cartons of Walla Walla sweet onions were priced at $14-16 for jumbos and $10-12 for mediums.
Walla Walla growers said the deal should get going by the third week of June, which is typical.
“We’ve had some favorable moisture and warm weather, so we’re looking at a normal start of June 20,” said Harry Hamada, manager of Walla Walla, Wash.-based Walla Walla River Packing & Storage LLC.
Hamada said his company ship about 400,000 to 500,000 40-pound units from about 400 acres.
Prices shouldn’t be a problem, he said.
“The sweet onion seems to have its own market,” he said.
The market is a guessing game, said Ben Cavalli, owner of Cavalli’s Onion Acres in Walla Walla.
“If we don’t get a good market out of them, I think you’re going to see less and less of them planted,” he said.
Bryon Magnaghi, general manager of the Walla Walla-based Walla Walla Gardeners’ Association, said the deal appeared to be setting up well.
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