Onion World December 2023

ONION WORLD Voice of the Industry • OnionWorld.net

December 2023

Varieties Buyers' Guide

Road Trip: Verbruggen

Click here for the advertiser index

Preventing Wind Erosion

Gowan Seed Company Chualar, California 831.596.1900

Seedway Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania 717.367.1075

Clifton Seeds Moravia, New York 315.604.1098

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Table of Contents

ONION WORLD Volume 39, Number 8

December 2023

PO Box 333 Roberts, Idaho 83444 Telephone: (208) 520-6461 Circulation: (503) 724-3581

OnionWorld.net

6 Verbruggen Palletizing Solutions

Road Trip

10 Dust in the Wind

Onion World Contacts Editor Denise Keller editor@ColumbiaMediaGroup.com Publisher / Advertising Manager Dave Alexander dave@ColumbiaMediaGroup.com

Preventing Wind Erosion

12 Long-Day Varieties Buyers’ Guide

Director of Operations Brian Feist brian@ColumbiaMediaGroup.com

EDITORIAL INFORMATION Onion World is interested in newsworthy material related to onion production and marketing. Contributions from all segments of the industry are welcome. Submit news releases, new product submissions, stories and photos via email to: editor@ColumbiaMediaGroup.com, or call (509) 697-9436.

ADVERTISING SALES For information on rates, mechanics, deadlines, list rental, direct mail, inserts or other information, call (208) 520-6461 or email: dave@onionworld.net

SUBSCRIPTIONS U.S. $24 per year Canada $40 per year Foreign $80 per year

Subscribe online at: www.OnionWorld.net/subscribe or call (503) 724-3581.

Tasha Paul with USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service stands in a pit, dug just outside the work zone in a field. One foot of soil loss was observed in the tilled versus non-tilled areas of this field. Learn more about preventing wind erosion on page 10.

On The Cover Seed companies are showcasing their favorite long-day onions. See their top picks in our Long-Day Varieties Buyers’ Guide, starting on page 12.

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Onion World • December 2023

DEPARTMENTS 9...... Calendar 22.... Advertiser Index 23.... In the News

Email address changes/corrections to brian@ColumbiaMediaGroup.com or mail to: Onion World PO Box 333 Roberts, ID 83444 Onion World magazine (ISSN 0892-578X), is published eight times a year and mailed under a standard rate mailing permit at Idaho Falls, Idaho and at additional mailing offices.

Produced by Columbia Media Group PO Box 333, Roberts, ID, 83444.

Copyright 2023. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose without the express written permission of Columbia Media Group.

For information on reprints call (208) 520-6461.

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5

Verbruggen Palletizing Solutions Story and photos by Denise Keller, Editor

A

trip home from a summer field day created the perfect excuse for a pit stop in Pasco, Washington, where Verbruggen Palletizing Solutions has operated its U.S. sales and service center for the last decade.

Founded in the Netherlands in 1991, the company specializes in palletizing systems for boxes, bags, crates and more.

The combination of Dutch innovation coupled with stateside service, parts and support have helped the company grow through the years, employees say.

In 2013, Verbruggen opened the sales and service location in Pasco to better serve its North American customers. In the last 10 years, the U.S. operation has increased by more than five times its initial size, and a U.S.-based staff of two now numbers nearly 30, including service technicians, parts workers, administrative support and a sales team.

Verbruggen equipment is installed at approximately 400 customer locations in North America.

Balcom & Moe in Pasco, Wash., uses Verbruggen’s VPM-VHV palletizer with a multi-level accumulation system to save floor space and maximize the potential of the palletizer.

A wrapper secures a pallet of stacked boxes for loading and transport.

Spiral conveyors offer a space-saving solution in systems with multiple levels of accumulation lines.

Boxes make their way up a spiral conveyor to the accumulation conveyor and palletizer.

A Balcom & Moe employee removes a pallet of stacked boxes from the conveyor.

Verbruggen’s VPM-10 can stack up to 30 units per minute.

From left, Verbruggen employees Valerie Long, Gabriel Writer, Marco van der Heide and Jose Benitez visit a packing shed during the installation of a new palletizer.

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Gabriel Writer, a Verbruggen field service technician, uses a touchscreen control to change the stacking pattern of a palletizer.

Verbruggen employees install a VPM-8 palletizer at Easterday Farms in Pasco, Wash.

Verbruggen’s VPM-VHV palletizer precisely stacks a pallet of boxes, allowing for a more stable load and less product damage.

The smallest difference leads to the greatest change Check us out at enzazaden.com 8

Onion World • December 2023

Calendar

Dec. 5-7

Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market EXPO DeVos Place, Grand Rapids, Mich. www.glexpo.com

Jan. 23-24

Empire State Producers Expo The Oncenter, Syracuse, N.Y. www.nysvga.org

Feb. 6

Idaho-Malheur County Onion Growers Association Annual Meeting Four Rivers Cultural Center Ontario, Ore. Sarah Freeman, (208) 888-0988 or sarah@amgidaho.com

Feb. 13

Pacific North West

New Mexico

Brian Haddon, Area Manager (971) 282-2884

Greg Patti, Sales Rep. (575) 202-2250

San Joaquin Valley

Texas

Russ Brown, Area Manager (559) 799-0799

Clegg Smith, Area Manager (956) 340-0022

Imperial Valley & Yuma AZ

Florida, Georgia & the Carolinas

Scott Richards, Area Manager (928) 580-2484

Utah Onion Association Winter Meeting

Derek Levy, Sales Rep (912) 433-4752

831-679-1900

Bridgerland Technical College Brigham City, Utah Mike Pace, (435) 695-2542 or mike.pace@usu.edu

www.gowanseed.com P.O. Box 190 • Chualar, CA 93925 25445 Chualar River Road • Chualar, CA 93925

Exploring nature never stops

BEJO ONIONS - LAYERS OF EXCELLENCE TANIA

RED SENSATION

ALISON

PIRATE

New short day yellow granex introduction: Strong upright tops with great plant habit.

High yielding deeper granex shape, strong root system, and firm bulbs. Pink root and bolting resistance.

Early maturing grano red. Strong healthy tops. Pink root resistance.

Excellent bulb firmness and color.

Uniform round bulbs. Good internal color. Widely adapted across short day growing regions.

High percentage single centers.

Late season short day yellow granex with upright tops. Deeper high yielding granex shape. Bolting resistance and very uniform. Strong outer skin layers. Produces well sized bulbs that result in good yields.

Great option to fill later season slot in Vidalia.

Main Season short day yellow granex. Attractive lighter colored skin. Uniform and extra firm bulbs with high yielding deeper granex shape. High percentage of jumbos. Great post harvest appearance. A widely adapted variety across many short day regions.

Earliness: Early main Sowing period: 09-15 - 09-25 Taste: Sweet Pyruvates: 3.6 Lacrymatory Factor: 2.8 Shape: Granex IR: Foc; Pt

Earliness: Early Sowing period: 09-25 - 10-05 Taste: Very sweet Shape: Grano IR: Foc; Pt

Earliness: Late Sowing period: 09-25 - 10-05 Taste: Very sweet Pyruvates: 3.5 Lacrymatory Factor: 2.4 Shape: Granex IR: Foc; Pt

Earliness: Main Sowing period: 09-18 - 09-28 Taste: Sweet Pyruvates: 3.4 Lacrymatory Factor: 2.6 Shape: Granex IR: Foc; Pt

f Bejo Seeds Inc. (main office) 1972 Silver Spur Pl. Oceano, CA | T: 805- 473-2199 | E: info@bejoseeds.com f bejoseeds.com

Dust in the Wind Preventing Wind Erosion Story and photos by Dave Alexander, Publisher

I

f you’re growing anything, it all starts with healthy soil. Producers today recognize this, though soil health is a relatively new concept and hasn’t always been top of mind. In the 1930s, the infamous Dust Bowl swept soil across the Great Plains. Due to a combination of drought, turning native grasses into farmland (absence of cover vegetation), no windbreaks (trees) and a lack of irrigation, top soil literally blew away, creating massive dust clouds from the Plains to the East Coast.

This summer, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) hosted a soil day to help growers in Eastern Idaho better understand the benefits of good soil and curtailing wind erosion, but the lessons learned at this

seminar can be applied everywhere.

Nick Sirovatka, regional soil health specialist with USDA-NRCS, drove from Oregon to Eastern Idaho to talk about wind erosion and how to prevent it.

What is Wind Erosion?

There are three major forms of wind erosion. From the least problematic to the worst, they are ground creep, suspension and saltation.

Ground creep happens when wind rolls fine particles on the ground. If you’re lucky, your soil won’t belong to your neighbor after ground creep.

Suspension is when wind picks up fine dust particles and keeps them in the air.

Saltation happens when soil particles get picked up and then come back down.

When saltation occurs, fine soil particles are lifted and eventually strike the soil still on the ground. When the particles hit the soil surface, they can potentially “blow apart soil structure,” Sirovatka says. This creates even finer particles, leaving the soil even more susceptible to all three forms of wind erosion.

Preventing Wind Erosion

The simplest solution to combatting wind erosion is to cover the ground. But cover may not be practical or available.

If cover is not available, leave the ground rough, with clods, when tilling to reduce wind erosion. These clods are known as aggregate, which is sand, silt and clay particles bound together in the soil.

If leaving larger clods is not practical,

This demonstration shows how different soils hold the same amount of water, in this case 0.75 inch of simulated rain. The worked/tilled soil (second from left) could not hold as much water as the non-worked and covered examples. Residue eliminates hard, initial droplet contact and slows down rain movement, letting it soak in rather than running off.

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Onion World • December 2023

• Reducing the number of tillage passes and the soil disturbance intensity helps maintain organic matter in soil and boosts its life.

• Diversify rotation crops.

Think About It

For a sandy, low-aggregate soil, it only takes a wind of 5 miles per hour to start moving soil, so reducing erosion should be top of mind for growers.

Sirovatka suggests incorporating some of these ideas into day-to-day operations.

Growers may not be able to jump away from what they are currently doing “cold turkey,” but should always be on the lookout for ways to combat wind and water erosion, thereby increasing soil health.

Nick Sirovatka with USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service demonstrates wind erosion with a visual experiment. Using a leaf blower to simulate wind erosion, he created a mini Dust Bowl that perfectly demonstrated how topsoil is lost due to wind.

keep in mind any aggregation will have a positive effect on wind erosion. Sirovatka says anything bigger than a kernel of wheat will help.

Shawn Nield with NRCS in Boise, Idaho, agrees that wheat kernel-size aggregate is ideal, but notes, “Even small aggregation – we’re talking about millimeter-sized aggregate – accounts for a big decrease in the amount of predicted erosion.”

More Tips to Reduce Wind Erosion

• Create windbreaks around field perimeters. Leaving strips in fields will also create windbreaks.

• Consider timing when doing tillage and before removing cover stubble.

Leave stubble longer.

• Aggregation is promoted in soil by adding organic matter, and it also increases soil structure. This is especially true for sandy soil.

Shanna Bernal-Fields with USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service shows the soil layers in this Blackfoot, Idaho, field that has transitioned from loamy-sand to sandyloam to root-resistant duripan (hardpan) over the decades.

Shawn Nield with USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Boise, Idaho, tells attendees that managing irrigation water more efficiently can save a lot of money. By using technologies like soil moisture sensors, weather apps and low-elevation sprinklers, growers can cut into the average cost of $13,000 in electricity to run one pivot for one season.

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Long-Day Varieties Buyers’ Guide 301 Natividad Rd. Salinas, CA 93906 Phone: (831) 443-4901 www.takii.com info@takii.com

NEW Switchback

This early-maturing Northeastern type has shown high pack-outs and earliness.

Switchback’s early maturity makes it ideal for many northern long-day areas.

Bulbs are globe shaped with excellent uniformity. It is good for transplant as well as direct seeding. Skin color is dark with outstanding retention and thickness. It makes size while maintaining an excellent shape. It is best suited for fresh and midstorage markets.

Outlander

Extra-early maturing (approximately 85 days), Outlander has excellent uniformity, strong tops and roots with intermediate resistance to Fusarium.

Ideal for transplants, it performs best in the northeastern U.S. and southeastern Canada. Outlander is best suited for fresh and short storage markets.

Switchback

Traverse

Traverse has early-season maturity in the Pacific Northwest, and mid-season maturity in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. Traverse has the potential to produce jumbo bulbs.

Widely adaptable, it is suitable for fresh and long storage markets. It has high resistance to pink root and Fusarium.

Direct seeding is recommended.

Traverse

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Onion World • December 2023

Trailblazer

This early northern type has early- to mid-season maturity, being slightly earlier than Mountaineer. Bulbs are tight and firm with a globe shape and good size with thin necks. Trailblazer has strong resistance to Botrytis, is slow to bolt and is excellent for storage. Under optimum conditions, it can store until June.

Outlander

Trekker

Trekker is an early- to mid-season maturing (95-100 days) storage-type variety. A very uniform variety, its extrafirm bulbs are globe shaped with dark skin with an attractive sheen. Slow to bolt, Trekker will store until May under optimum conditions. It has strong resistance to basal rot and neck rot and is perfect for fresh and storage markets.

Trekker

Trailblazer

Ridge Line

This mid-season onion is a yellow Spanish type with hard bulbs that are slightly elongated globe in shape with excellent skin quality. With medium maturity, Ridge Line has good roots with the potential to produce jumbo-sized bulbs.

Ridge Line

1200 Anderson Corner Rd. Parma, ID 83660 Phone: (800) 733-9505 www.nunhemsusa.com

Airoso

Airoso has performed well under sprinkler and center pivot due to its vigorous, upright tops. Its early maturity and bolt tolerance make it a great option for an early-to-market hybrid. Airoso has good bulb uniformity, excellent firmness and long-term storage capability.

Cometa

Cometa is an established long-day white onion variety that is very adaptable to many growing conditions in several regions. Its white color and high productivity have set the standard for long-day white onions in the market. It is a main-season maturing variety at 125 days.

Airoso

Joaquin

Its robust roots and vigorous foliage make Joaquin a highly productive long-day variety. These attributes give Joaquin the ability to withstand some of the harshest conditions from pink root and Fusarium to Iris yellow spot virus. It’s a full-season variety of 130 days maturity. Joaquin is highly consistent in producing jumbo size and larger bulbs with excellent uniformity and medium- to long-term storage potential.

Joaquin

Cometa

Granero

Granero is a yellow long-day onion with nice, shiny, copper-brown skin and beautiful white flesh. It has consistent productivity with single centers. Granero is a medium storage variety with 118-day maturity.

Granero

Anillo

Anillo is a very attractive yellow long-day onion with beautiful, shiny, copper-brown skin and amazing white interior flesh. Its attractive skin, bulb firmness, extremely high uniformity, single centeredness and long-term storage make it an ideal fresh market variety. The 120-day variety is suitable for the Northwest under either sprinkler or drip irrigation.

Anillo

S7210

S7210 is a long-day yellow onion that is an early-season variety at around 105 days.

The variety is suitable to be grown under drip or furrow/flood irrigation. This variety has excellent eating qualities as being both tearless and sweet.

S7210

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Long-Day Varieties Buyers’ Guide Bridewhite

Hamilton

1972 Silver Spur Place Oceano, CA 93445 Phone: (805) 473-2199 www.bejoseeds.com info@bejoseeds.com

Yakama

Bridewhite

Bridewhite offers full-season maturity with a very uniform round shape.

Bulbs are bright white and suited for long-term storage. This is a productive variety with upright, dark green foliage adapted to overhead sprinklers.

Hamilton

Hamilton is a classy, exceptionally hard, full-season blocky globe with deep-copper skins. It performs nicely on gravity, drip and overhead irrigation systems. This onion’s extremely longterm storage ability positions it as a leader to satisfy late-market needs, providing high quality.

Yakama

Yakama is a new opener for the market.

It retains a nice skin, develops to very large jumbo sizing and has the ability to cut single centers. It is a very firm 116-day onion, giving shippers a quality early-to-market onion for their customers.

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Onion World • December 2023

P.O. Box 520 301 Warehouse Caldwell, ID 83606-0520 Phone: (208) 459-7451 www.crookham.com ccoinfo@crookham.com

Brundage

Brundage is a later main-season variety that is dazzling white in color with consistent globe-shaped bulbs. It has strong roots and erect tops that help with stress and make spraying easier. Brundage demonstrates solid pink root and Fusarium tolerance and is also tolerant to bolting.

Caliber

Caliber is a late-season yellow long-day onion for the western United States known for vigor, disease resistance, yield and storage capabilities. Caliber is a healthy plant with solid roots and strong, erect tops that assist in providing thrips tolerance and make applications easier.

Caliber has a consistent rich bronze scale in super colossal bulbs with single centers that do very well with mechanical harvest.

Caliber has a reputation for storing very well long term. It is highly tolerant to pink root, Fusarium and thrips and tolerant to bolting.

Defender

Caldwell

Epic

Trident

Defender is a main-season yellow long-day onion for the western United States. It is a vigorous plant with strong, erect tops and roots that give it a strong canopy. Defender has a high percentage of single centers, good ring separation, and uniformity in bulb shape with a rich bronze-colored scale. Defender can store for six or more months, giving growers a high degree of market flexibility. It is highly tolerant to pink root and Fusarium and tolerant to bolting.

Epic is an early-main long-season variety with a dark copper-colored scale. It performs exceptionally well under overhead water and forms a large jumbo bulb that stores well.

It has a very high single center rate and can be used effectively for processing. Epic has done well in adaptive trials in the Northwest, Midwest and western U.S.

Brundage Caliber

Defender Epic

Caldwell is a main-season variety specially bred in Caldwell, Idaho, that has shown wide adaptability outside its hometown. It has performed very well in the western U.S. and other Spanish onion markets. It produces a nice globe onion with a rich bronze scale and demonstrates a high ratio of single centers.

The plant has a solid structure with a refined neck, a robust root system and a good disease package. It is highly tolerant to pink root and Fusarium and tolerant to bolting.

Trident is an early main-season yellow longday onion with proven wide adaptability in extensive trials in the Northeast, Midwest and western United States. This high-yielding variety produces consistent deep bronzecolored bulbs, large to jumbo in size, with small necks. The outer scale has a nice sheen and is durable, making it a great variety for mechanical harvest. It is highly tolerant to pink root, Fusarium and bolting.

Caldwell Trident

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Long-Day Varieties Buyers’ Guide 8269 E. US Hwy. 95 Yuma, AZ 85365 Phone: (928) 341-8494 www.dpseeds.com info@dpseeds.com

Cherry Mountain F1 Hybrid

Cherry Mountain F1 is a large, brilliant colored, dark-red Grano onion with excellent storage capabilities. This variety produces round bulbs that are uniform in shape with a refined neck. The variety is highly single centered and ideal for the fresh market. Plant in early spring

Diamond Swan F1 Hybrid

Diamond Swan F1 is an early, intermediate/ long-day variety with excellent storage capabilities. This variety features a round, very white bulb with a refined neck and is highly single centered.

Saffron F1 Hybrid

Saffron F1 is a large, yellow intermediate/ long-day Grano onion with excellent storage capabilities. This is an early variety with a refined neck and beautiful dark yellowbronze skin. This highly single centered variety will do well in North Carolina and in the northern U.S.

Cherry Mountain F1 Hybrid

We take perfect care of your onions.

Diamond Swan F1 Hybrid

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Onion World • December 2023

Saffron F1 Hybrid

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17

Long-Day Varieties Buyers’ Guide Barolo F1

Barolo F1

Barolo is an early- to mid-season long-day red onion with attractive dark red interior, shiny exterior color and globe shape. Strong against root diseases, and adaptable to overhead, furrow and drip irrigation, Barolo makes a fine choice for the red onion grower’s mid-season crop. Marketing flexibility is increased by Barolo’s three- to four-month storage window.

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Onion World • December 2023

Tannat F1

Tannat F1

Tannat is a dark red medium- to late-maturing long-day onion with excellent exterior and interior color. Tops are large, giving Tannat the opportunity to make larger red bulbs. Root system is vigorous, showing good tolerances to both pink root and Fusarium. Expected storage is four to eight months.

Rene-Didier Emch, Sales Representative & Product Developer Phone: (657) 276-1021 www.enzazaden.us r.emch@enzazaden.com

3155 SW 10th Street, Suite 6L Deerfield Beach, FL 33442 Phone: (954) 429-9445 www.hazera.us.com info@hazera.us.com

Moonstone

Moonstone produces uniform, globe-shaped, bright white bulbs with very long storage and good shelf life potential. The variety is a vigorous and erect plant type that remains highly productive under adverse conditions and soil-borne disease pressure.

Redesco

Redesco is a mid-early red long-day onion variety that produces uniform, globeshaped, very firm onions. Bulbs feature an intensive red color with well-attached skin.

The variety has very high bolting tolerance, long storage potential, good resistance to Fusarium and intermediate pink root resistance.

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19

Long-Day Varieties Buyers’ Guide Richard Navarrete, Technical Sales Representative Phone: (208) 317-6451 vegetables.bayer.com richard.navarrete@bayer.com

NEW Red Garcia (SVNT1608)

Formerly trialed under the name SVNT1608, Seminis introduces Red Garcia, named for its rock star taste and performance. With its high yield potential, classic globe shape and single centers, this low-pungency red onion is ideal for the foodservice market.

Red Garcia (SVNT1608)

Hatchet

Hatchet is a full-season yellow onion that produces high percentages of single centers with a classic globe shape. It has vigorous agronomics with high yield potential.

Hatchet

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Onion World • December 2023

Crusher

Crusher is a main-season yellow onion that delivers high yield potential with quality scale and single centers. It has great agronomics for everyday packer and processor needs.

Crusher

Tucannon

Tucannon is an early/main-season yellow onion with dark skin and quality scale.

Bulbs are jumbo sized with single centers and great storage potential.

Tucannon

XP 07716000

XP 07716000 is a main-season yellow onion. It has low pungency with single centers and high yield potential. The variety is excellent as a sweet and fits within the processor market.

XP 07716000

Almanzoro

Almanzoro is a full-season yellow onion with a tall globe shape and dark scale.

It has excellent yield potential and quality, making it ideal for long-term storage.

Almanzoro

Holland, MI 49424 Phone: (800) 962-4999 www.stokeseeds.com customerservice.us@stokeseeds.com

Catskill

Red Marley Red Marley

At a maturity of 100 days, Red Marley produces a large, round bulb with a small neck and medium-red skin color.

The variety has good internal color and medium-term storage potential. It’s ideal for the Northeast and Canada.

Overlook Overlook

With a maturity of 105 days, Overlook is an excellent storage onion for the Northeast with high yield potential. It offers excellent, thick, golden skin quality and long storage.

Catskill

At a maturity of 105 days, Catskill has good skin retention and neck size. High yield and adaptability provides flexibility to plant on all soil types.

Coming in the next issue of

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Advertiser Index Bejo................................................................ 9 Chinook Equipment...................................... 19 Clearwater Supply........................................ 21 Crookham....................................................... 5 Crookham....................................................... 5 Enza Zaden..................................................... 8 Gearmore..................................................... 17 Gowan Seed................................................... 9 Gowan/Crookham........................................ 17 Kerian........................................................... 22 L&M.............................................................. 19 Monosem..................................................... 18 Nunhems...................................................... 18 NOA.............................................................. 17 Redwood Empire.......................................... 14 Restrain.......................................................... 3 Seed Dynamics............................................... 2 Seedway....................................................... 23 Spudnik......................................................... 21 Unitec........................................................... 24 Verbruggan................................................... 16 Volm.............................................................

22 23-12 Onion World-7.3x4.9.v1.pdf 1 2023-11-02 1:02 pm

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Onion World • December 2023

Kerian SPEED SIZER A gentle way to size onions quickly and accurately

Proven for use in: Whites, Reds, Golds, Browns, Spanish, Pearl Onions & More Watch Our Sizers In Action At:

www.kerian.com GENTLE: Separates without damaging onions ACCURATE: Precisely grades onions of all shapes and varieties FAST: Thirteen standard models custom-designed to meet your needs sort from 1000 lb/hr to 80,000 lb/hr SIMPLE: Effective but simple design provides a rugged, low cost, low maintenance machine at a high value to our customers.

It can even be used in the field!

Kerian Machines inc.

1709 Hwy 81 S, PO Box 311, Grafton, ND USA 58237

701-352-0480 • sales@kerian.com Fax 701-352-3776

IN THE NEWS

Fox Packaging Hires Director of Sales

Crookham Adds Features to Website, Onions to Portfolio Crookham Company has expanded its website to include best practices for some of the company’s most in-demand onion hybrids. Caldwell, Epic, Defender, Trident and Caliber are among the Crookham onion varieties included in the new “Growing Guidelines” section of the company’s website. The section details instructions for plant spacing, planting date, fertility, weed control, fungicide usage and harvest. To access the variety-specific recommendations, visit www.crookham.com, click on “Our Products,” and then select the variety.

Crookham also has new developments in its long-day onion CALDWELL program. The company is working on a retail onion that is pivot focused for the Pacific Northwest, Eastern Oregon and Idaho, as well as a mild intermediate onion that does well in the West. Both move to block trials next season.

Maximizing Success

Jen Doxey has joined Fox Packaging as the company’s new director of sales. She is responsible for overseeing the sales operations of Fox Packaging and Fox Solutions and collaborating with the team in developing sales and service strategies that further the Fox brand.

Doxey brings over 20 years of experience in the produce industry, with an emphasis on developing and executing strategic sales plans, building long-term customer relationships and leading high-performing teams. She comes to Fox from Giro Pack, where she served SEEDWAY_Onion World_Oct2021_Layout 1 10/4/2021 2:52 PM Page 1 as the national sales manager for nearly eight years.

Your Acres. Your Livelihood. Our Priority.

118-120 LONG DAY STORAGE ONION Caldwell is a main season maturing onion for the Western US. It has a vigorous leaf structure and root system that allows it to maintain strength during extended periods of heat stress.

This onion is versatile and can go to any market. It is a great selection for ring processing as its rings are easily separated with machinery. Its storage life is good until March.

Retail

Processing

It can be planted further apart (3.9”-4.1”) and fit into a processing or food service onion with very high single centeredness. It can also be planted closer together (2.75”-3.5”) and fit the proper size profile for the retail market.

Plant Date

MARCH

Caldwell is flexible in the traditional long day window. It has a lower sensitivity to daylight length and can be comfortably planted from mid-March into mid-April with similar outcomes.

Fertility

Depending upon the soil results and the history of onion production of the ground, standard fertility practices should be used. It has been observed that fertility can be reduced if planting on soil that has not seen onions in a normal 4-year rotation.

APRIL

15

P

Phosphorus

19

K

Fungicide

UNITED STATES Lancaster & San Joaquin Valley (661) 978-5342

Harvest

Desert Southwest (928) 446-7737

Potassium

Weed Control

This variety produces a good wax when the first application of broadleaf weed control are necessary. When environmental conditions are right and according to label restrictions Caldwell can hold up to the full label application of broadleaf weed control.

Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Onions As stated earlier, Caldwell has a good waxy layer on its leaves. However, when an onion produces new leaves on its normal cycle of every 12-14 days it will always be necessary to treat these new leaves with a fungicide especially in periods of cool wet weather that tend to promote more growth of airborne bacteria and fungi.

05

For Caldwell to maintain the proper level of scale during storage it will be necessary to observe some restriction of time between the initial lifting of the crop to the loading of the crop. Especially in extreme heat when we can lose scales by over drying the onion in the field. This time frame between lifting and loading should be appropriate and not exceed beyond 14 days when conditions for drying are normal.

The CDC and FDA have linked an outbreak of Salmonella Thompson www.crookham.com infections in 22 states to onions.

Epidemiologic and trace-back data show that illnesses in the outbreak are linked to fresh diced onions from Gills Onions in Oxnard, Calif. As of late October, the outbreak had sickened 73 people and hospitalized 15.

Gills Onions voluntarily recalled diced yellow onions, diced onions and celery, diced mirepoix, and diced red onions.

The recalled onions were distributed in foodservice nationwide and in Canada and through retailers in Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.

Questions? Please contact: Lyndon Johnson (208) 369-3390

Colorado & New Mexico (970) 396-9728 Idaho, East Oregon, Utah & Nevada (208) 941-1421 Skagit Valley, Washington (360) 941-7503 Rio Grande Valley & West Texas (956) 618-5574

MEXICO Torreón, Coahuila (461) 117-3878 Colima, Col. (461) 104-0134 San Luis Potosi (461) 140-9452 Chihuahua (461) 171-9401 Tamaulipas (461) 134-2421 Irapuato, Gto. (461) 546-5792

(800) 952-7333 WWW.SEEDWAY.COM OnionWorld.net

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