Vidalia onions off to promising start
The 2017 Vidalia onion season has been underway for a month, with the official pack date April 12 this year.
John Shuman, president of Shuman Produce in Reidsville, Ga., said this year’s mild winter was very favorable to his 2,000 acres of Vidalia onions.
“The season started in mid-April. We’ll be harvesting through late May,” Shuman said.
Onions shipped out of cold storage should be available June through August, he said.
At J&S Produce in Mount Vernon, Ga., president and co-owner Joey Johnson said the company is looking at good volume and good quality.
Prices
He anticipates pricing to be low.
As of May 4, f.o.b.s for 40-pound boxes of jumbo Vidalia onions were $11-14, slightly lower than year-ago prices of $12-17, according to U.S Department of Agriculture reports.
“We were actually hoping for a little better price,” Johnson said.
“A lot of people are selling onions this year.”
Johnson said that cold storage pricing will run a little higher.
“Last year we were around $16 for cold storage. We think this will be a little better this year.”
Susan Waters, executive director of the Vidalia Onion Committee, said she has been seeing a good crop on field and member visits around the Vidalia area.
“Packing started April 12. The weather was warm and dry, so we would anticipate high volume and a very good yield,” she said.
The committee manages the national “Only Vidalia” marketing campaign, which is funded by a grower/packer check-off.
Waters said the Vidalia Onion Committee is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Vidalia trademark this year.
The commmittee not only manages Vidalia onion marketing efforts, but also University of Georgia research and some consumer testing.
“One thing we’ve noticed is that consumers seem to be preferring a medium-sized onion,” she said.
Waters said the smaller onion not only works well in consumer recipes, but also means that each package will have a few more onions.
