Onion Production Drop

Onion Production Drop

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
Chicken Little thought the sky was falling but in reality, it was the roofs of onion packing plants and storage facilities.

 

In a conversation I had with with Ken Stewart, sales and operations manager for Four Rivers onion packing plant, he told me that approximately 25 to 30 onion packing or onion storage plants had their roofs collapse in Idaho alone. I know there were a number that collapsed in Oregon as well. That kind of tragedy is going to have a major impact on onion availability and onion pricing. "There have been a number of buildings that have collapsed that had onions being stored inside of the buildings. Those onions have been damaged and they won't be able to go to market. They have either frozen or they may have safety issues with foreign materials that came down off of roofs and that kind of thing. So we truly have lost a fair number of the onion supplies plus we have lost places and don't have the ability to pack. So the onion market is reacting to this as well as, like I said, the market was somewhat depressed and started to come that way anyway and the weather in general has just made it very difficult for people to get out the volume that the country needs this time of year in terms of onions.”

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