Onion Production

In onion country, on the Idaho Oregon border, harvest is underway. At the Storey farm, trucks are loaded with white onions headed to the packing shed. “ We are 10% harvested at this point, Valley wide.” Shea Myers, general manager of Owyhee Produce says the onion harvest is like all other Northwest crops this year… Early. “Weather conditions were a little bit different in the summer so we are a little bit ahead of schedule as far as the curing process of the onions. Full on harvest will start 10 does 14 days earlier than normal.” Owyhee Produce Grows and markets 55,000,000 pounds of onions annually. “Quality is really good, we have challenges as far as size is concerned and that is due to the heat. Some of the varieties that we grow don’t deal well with those high temperatures.” It is a business full of variables with one constant challenge. “There are different variables and we control those variables. We can control how many sorters are on the line and we can push for better quality but when it comes to trucks that is completely out of our hands. We don’t run our own trucks. Even if we did we would still be challenged to get everything together and make delivery and get back and get loaded again.” Over half of the onion production in the United States comes from this Northwest growing region along the snake River. “This growing region and Idaho Oregon, the treasure Valley in general, a lot of people don't know that this is the single largest growing region for onions in the United States and it is in the top two or three in the world. In this Valley alone there is going to be 23,000 to 25,000 acres on an annual basis that are planted.”