Walla Walla Sweet Onion Harvest Pt 1

I'm Bob Larson. Walla Walla Sweet Onion harvest is drawing to a close as farmers clear up the final acreage of the tasty bulbs. Mike Locati, owner operator at Locati Farms and president of the Walla Walla Sweet Onion Marketing Committee, says it's been a pretty good year despite the cooler, wetter Winter ...

MIKE LOCATI ... "You know, we got a little bit of a later start than we'd like to in June and got through most of those onions. Then we moved to transplants just after the Fourth of July. And we started our Spring seeded last Friday, but the onions look pretty good, quality's been good. I don't know, price could always be better."

Locati says the Sweets have weathered this year's unusual precipitation and heat ...

MIKE LOCATI ... "Yeah, holding up pretty well. Haven't had any real complaints. Really nice, sweet flavor this year. All shapes and sizes available, so it's been pretty good."

Locati says the Winter weather was probably the biggest challenge this year, but nothing they couldn't overcome ...

MIKE LOCATI ... "It didn't lend to us warming up real fast and being able to harvest. We'd like, ideally, you'd like to start harvest around the second week in June instead of the third week. When you lose a week, you just kind of lose momentum going in towards that Fourth of July weekend."

Roughly 20 growers cultivate Walla Walla Sweets on about 500 acres.

Listen tomorrow for more on this year's harvest, how they manage to beat the heat, and when the they'll be stoppin' the Sweet Onion toppin'!