Idaho-Oregon onion acres expected to increase in 2016
NYSSA, Ore. — Farmers in the nation’s largest onion-growing region will have a normal water supply for the first time in three years, and acres are expected to increase as a result.
Farmers in Southwestern Idaho and Malheur County, Ore., plant more than 20,000 acres of Spanish bulb onions in a typical year.
According to USDA statistics, total onion acres in this region decreased significantly in 2014 and 2015, when many farmers had their annual irrigation allotment slashed to one-third of normal due to a drought.
Growers and shippers agree that onion acres in this region will increase in 2016 but they differ on how much.
“There is a fairly significant increase in onion acres this year,” said Oregon farmer Bruce Corn. “I think (that) is a direct result of having adequate water this year.”
“It sounds like onion acres are going to be up a little,” said Stuart Reitz, an Oregon State University cropping systems extension agent in Malheur County. “Water doesn’t seem to be an issue this year and I think we’ll get some more acres because of that.”
Malheur County Onion Growers Association President Paul Skeen said everyone assume acres will increase but nobody knows for sure how much at this point.
“Are they up? We think so but nobody knows how much,” he said. “I have two seed salesmen. One says they will be up a tiny bit. The other says they could be up 5 to 8 percent.”
John Wong, president of Champion Produce in Parma, Idaho, agrees.
There is a lot of speculation about how much onion acres will increase this year but no one knows for sure right now, he said.
“I just don’t think anyone knows whether they will be up 1 or 2 percent or 10 percent,” he said.
Onions are the backbone of the economy in this region. There are more than 30 packing sheds in the valley and farmers here produce about 25 percent of the nation’s total storage onion supply.
According to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, onion acres in this region totaled 20,100 in 2013. That number dropped to 16,400 in 2014 as the area’s water supply was greatly reduced by the drought. They totaled 17,400 in 2015.
Whether production increases this year depends on more than just acres, Wong said. Yield is also a big factor.
Though onion acres increased by 1,000 in 2015 compared with 2014, total production actually dipped slightly because average yields were down considerably.
“If acres are up 5 percent and yields are down 5 percent, then production would be the same,” Wong said.