Onion World July-August 2025

ONION WORLD Voice of the Industry • OnionWorld.net • July/August 2025

Harvest Essentials Buyers' Guide

Advertiser Index American Takii............3 BASF - Nunhems.........9 Bejo..........................17 Chinook Equipment..21 Clearwater Supply....11 Crookham...................7 Gearmore...................8 Gowan Seed.............21 Kerian.......................23

L&M...........................6 NOA.........................15 Redwood Empire......19 Seedway...................19 Teleos.......................24 TKI............................11 Top Air........................9 Unitec......................23 Volm ........................15

Do Dry Sanitizers Work?

New Crookham Vidalia Varieties The 1944 US-Mexico Water Treaty

Table of Contents

ONION WORLD Volume 41, Number 5

July/august 2025 4 Crookham Company to Release Vidalia Varieties 6 Do Dry Sanitizers Work?

8 The 1944 US-Mexico Water Treaty

A 20th-Century Agreement With 21st-Century Consequences for US Onion Growers

12 Harvest Essentials

Buyers' Guide

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

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

18 An Example of Efficiency

Blue Sky Onions

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.

New 4022 is a traditional flat onion for the Vidalia market. Learn more about Crookham Company’s new varieties on page 4.

On The Cover Flying F Inc. harvests onions near the Idaho-Oregon border.

Find a full selection of Harvest Essentials in our Buyers’ Guide on pages 12 – 16.

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Onion World • July/August 2025

DEPARTMENTS 16.... Calendar 17.... New Products 22.... In the News 23.... Advertiser Index

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 2025. 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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3

Crookham Company to Release Vidalia Varieties

By Dave Alexander, Publisher

T

here is a new player in the Vidalia onion game, but one that is familiar to growers. Crookham Company has two new sweet onion varieties, specifically developed for southern Georgia. Onion World interviewed Lyndon Johnson, sales development manager at Crookham, to learn more.

Onion World: Tell us about your new Vidalia seed varieties and what you are expecting out of them.

Crookham Company: These have come up through our chain of product development, meaning that they’ve been worked out from some small 10-foot trials over the last five, maybe even 10 years. We build up parent lines to get a larger volume of seed, and these two varieties, out of all the selections we started with, have looked the most promising.

The first one we have is 4021, and the other is 4022. Once we are completely happy with them, which I think we are now, we will give them a name and start selling them commercially.

That will happen in 2026 because that’s just how long it takes to build up the parent lines of these two hybrids to get enough volume to make a good-sized production.

Lyndon Johnson (right) visits with a grower during the 2024 Crookham Onion Reveal in Wilder, Idaho.

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Onion World • July/August 2025

Onion World: Does 2026 mean the 2026 crop year?

Crookham Company: The seed will come off in late July of 2026. All of our seed is produced in the U.S. We have a couple growing areas in California, and the rest is grown in Hatch, New Mexico, in the Las Cruces area. They will be ready for planting in September 2026 for the Vidalia program to be harvested in 2027.

Both of these onions are very early in the program, so when the flag drops there that you can start putting onions in a Vidalia box, these onions are matured and ready. They are up front in the maturity cycle. 4022 is a traditional flat onion. 4021 is a bit deeper of a bulb, so you can get a lot more yield back per acre.

Onion World: Are the flavor profiles the same on both onions?

Crookham Company: They are pretty darn close to being the same. They’ve been tested at the University of Georgia and qualify to be sold under the Vidalia onion brand. You have to go through three years of testing at the University of Georgia Crookham Company’s new variety 4022 has strong tops and roots.

to make sure that the quality and flavor profile desired in the Vidalia onion will always be there.

Onion World: What are you seeing so far on the 2025 harvest?

Crookham Company: We are happy with the yield and competitive with anything else that’s out there in that early segment. We are happy with where we are at with both of these onions. Later on, as we develop more parent lines, we will have some that go into the main season as well. There are lots more years of work to be done, but there are two that look really good so far. We will have more onions coming for the Vidalia market as well.

Onion World: Why should someone choose your Vidalia varieties over what they are using now?

Crookham Company: If you want an onion that will be ready right at the start of the Vidalia program and one that has the ability to add more yield, given the same planting scheme, the same fertilizer and same input usage, I believe that 4021 will appeal to growers. The 4022 looks absolutely flat and traditional looking – and just a dynamite flavor profile on both.

They both have very strong tops and root systems.

Onions are sprinkler-irrigated in Georgia. Those growers are very, very technical. They know what they are doing. We do not want to have an onion that promotes a lot of bacterial disease under overhead irrigation. These two take care of themselves and do very well. They have a lot of wax buildup on them that allows water just to run off the foliage and not sit on it. And they have real tight necks, so we don’t get anything sitting in there and making a mess from a disease perspective. Whether air-borne bacteria or air-borne fungus, we’re really happy with their performance in that manner.

have photos and videos. You have this information for all your popular varieties, right?

Crookham Company: You bet. I’m going to step into this a little further and we’ll do this for the whole portfolio. We almost have to make them area-specific, too. Like with Caldwell, it’s really good information for California, Idaho, Washington and the western half of the U.S. up in the north.

We spend all this time and put all this effort into product development as seed-producing companies, so it’s proper to give as much information as we figured out through our product development and through learning what growers have done that’s successful or not successful. It really helps to capture that data that would give a grower the best chance of success. If he’s just swinging at it the first time, or if he’s swinging at it the second or third time, we can refine that and help each other.

Onion World: So check these out at Crookham.com. The information is really good. It’s a little too early to have the Vidalia info on there, but that will be coming?

Crookham Company: Yes, those will be on there once we get names. We’ll probably name these two varieties right after the Georgia planting in 2025, so we’ll have commercial names in 2026.

Editor’s note: This article is adapted from The Onion Podcast, edited for brevity and clarity. To listen to the entire interview, visit TheOnionPodcast.com.

Crookham Company displays new variety 4021 at a field trial in Vidalia, Ga.

Onion World: Crookham is based in the Treasure Valley of Idaho. What are best “go-to” storage onions for this area?

Crookham Company: Over the last 10 to 15 years, let’s look at what Crookham has represented. Crookham started out with the highly single-centered large onion that’s good for processing, or foodservice, or even retail for that matter. That’s been the focus of our breeding program, but we’re expanding out. We’ve got a couple more maturities and some different onions that would be more retail-favored and grow well in the Columbia Basin under a pivot.

Here in the Treasure Valley, our bread and butter are Caldwell and Caliber. Those two varieties have taken off in the last five or six years.

It takes an onion a few years to develop more of a market share. As onion growers learn how to grow it and learn exactly how to plant it, feed it, fertilize it, take care of it and all the things that go along with it during the season, once they get that puzzle figured out, then it’s much easier to grow market share as things go on.

Onion World: You mentioned learning how to grow and what steps to take. Your website is really cool. It gives planting dates, fertility, when to use fungicides, how to harvest. You also OnionWorld.net

5

Do Dry Sanitizers Work?

By Joy Waite-Cusic, Oregon State University

I

n response to the recent Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks linked to onions, packinghouses are under increasing pressure from regulators and buyers to enhance their cleaning and sanitizing procedures. Introducing water into these dry packing facilities would only create more microbial problems.

The use of alcohol-based “dry” sanitizers is a potential option for sanitizing food contact surfaces without introducing significant water to the facility. However, little data existed on the efficacy of these alcohol-based sanitizers against foodborne pathogens on relevant surface types.

Oregon State University researchers Joy Waite-Cusic, Stuart Reitz and Jovana Kovacevic received a Washington State Specialty Crop Block Grant to evaluate the efficacy of commercial alcohol-based sanitizers to inactivate Salmonella and E. coli on plastic, wood and conveyor belt surfaces found in packinghouses.

Laboratory experiments conducted by graduate student Sasha Nerney demonstrated that sanitizer solutions with alcohol concentrations near 60% were effective at killing bacteria (>5-log reduction) on plastic surfaces when there was sufficient wet contact and drying time. These sanitizers were significantly

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Onion World • July/August 2025

During the Dry Cleaning and Sanitation Workshop, rice was used as a proxy for onions to visualize cross-contamination transfer rates during onion packing activities.

less effective on conveyor belts and plywood.

Sanitizer tests were also performed on plastic and wooden harvest bins to evaluate their ability to reduce crosscontamination between lots of onions.

High alcohol concentration sanitizers were effective at reducing onion crosscontamination rates in both types of harvest bins. Shockingly, the low alcohol concentration (11% isopropyl) sanitizer increased cross-contamination rates, likely due to the spreading of bacteria from discrete locations to a larger area of the bin.

The results of these studies were published in the Journal of Food Protection in February 2025. The OSU research team translated these research findings into a hands-on Dry Cleaning and Sanitizing Workshop that was offered to the onion industry in Othello, Washington, in January 2025 and in Ontario, Oregon, in April 2025.

The next steps in this research are to use this data along with microbial transfer data collected by OSU and University of OnionShow_2025 FINAL.pdf 1 6/8/25 California, Davis to build a quantitative

Joy Waite-Cusic, an associate professor of food safety systems at Oregon State University, introduces a hands-on activity at the Dry Cleaning and Sanitation Workshop in Othello, Wash., on Jan. 31.

microbial risk assessment (QMRA) model to evaluate the impact of sanitizer implementation at commercial scale.

Model development is being led by WaiteCusic’s Ph.D. student, Andrea Domen, with support from QMRA expert Don Schaffner (Rutgers University) and statistical 6:23 PM modeling experts James Molyneux and

Claudio Fuentes (OSU). This QMRA model will serve as the foundation for an interactive web-based Shiny application that can be used by the industry to quantify contamination risks with and without sanitizer interventions. This application will be introduced to the industry via a training webinar in late 2025.

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The 1944 US-Mexico Water Treaty A 20th-Century Agreement With 21st-Century Consequences for US Onion Growers

By John Harris, Owner and Founder, Paradigm Fresh

I

n the heart of the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, water is not just an agricultural input—it’s the foundation of survival. While the 1944 water treaty between the United States and Mexico was signed over 80 years ago, it has become more critical than ever to ensure that it is being enforced for the survival of the American farmers in this region.

The 1944 U.S.-Mexico water treaty remains a critical and recently overlooked factor in the stability of onion, citrus and various other types of food production across South Texas. As pressures mount from population growth and shifting diplomatic priorities, the treaty’s effectiveness and enforcement have

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Onion World • July/August 2025

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become a significant concern for those in the onion industry.

What’s at Stake

Under the treaty’s terms, the United States agrees to deliver 1.5 million acre-feet of water annually from the Colorado River to Mexico. In exchange, Mexico commits to deliver an average of 350,000 acre-feet of water per year (over five-year cycles) from six Rio Grande tributaries. It should be mentioned that Mexico currently owes the U.S. over 1.3 million acre-feet of water.

This water is essential for the Rio Grande Valley and a large share of Texas’ onion acreage. It supports irrigation systems that serve everything from winter vegetables to onions, one of the region’s most valuable specialty crops.

It is also important to note that this water shortage has led to the collapse and shutdown of the Texas sugarcane industry.

The challenge arises when Mexico falls short on its deliveries, as has happened in multiple cycles. These shortfalls in irrigation schedules have created

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US-Mexico Water Treaty a multitude of challenges. First and foremost, with this “stolen” water (stored in reservoirs and used for future gains rather than releasing it down the river as obligated), Mexico, since 2020, now has 10,000 irrigated acres of onions in Chihuahua, bringing the total acreage up to approximately 14,500. This is putting enormous pressure on the U.S. domestic onion market, as much of this production is being sold into the U.S. even though the U.S. can supply onions to our entire country without relying on a single onion import from anywhere in the world.

The other pressing issue is Mexico’s low cost of production (labor) and lack of FDA inspections in Mexico under the Foreign Supplier Verification Act. Due to safety issues in the region, the FDA

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Onion World • July/August 2025

is unable and/or unwilling to travel and inspect onsite food safety practices.

This is very concerning and, in general, unfair to not only the U.S. farmer, but also to the U.S. consumer. The Mexican agency Senasica is supposedly working with growers to uphold foreign supplier verification requirements, although there is currently no known validity to this process. Meanwhile, the U.S. farmer is being held to food safety standards and labor costs that Mexico is not.

Why This Matters Now

Recent years have brought renewed scrutiny to the 1944 treaty. Drought conditions throughout northern Mexico, compounded by higher water demand on both sides of the border, have made it

increasingly difficult for Mexico to meet its obligations. In 2020, the issue came to a head when Mexico drained domestic reservoirs to make deliveries to the U.S., sparking ongoing public protests and political tensions with Mexico. Without reform and increased enforcement from our government, growers in Texas and beyond remain highly vulnerable.

Onion Industry’s Position

The National Onion Association and Texas International Produce Association have advocated for stronger accountability within the treaty framework. Water delivery shortfalls not only impact crop production, they threaten long-term investment in agriculture and strain rural economies.

Key industry concerns include: • Predictability: Growers need reliable water access to plan and manage crop production. It is tough to plant a crop for which there might not be enough water available to finish its growing lifecycle.

• Enforcement: Treaty obligations must be treated with the same seriousness as trade agreements and regulatory compliance. The Trump administration and the Office of the United States Trade Representative are aware of the ongoing situation and are taking steps to force Mexico’s hand to deliver upon its obligation under the treaty.

The 1944 treaty was established during World War II in diplomacy and goodfaith cooperation. Its basic structure has withstood decades of change. Still, the pressures of the present U.S. demand and Mexico’s blatant refusal to fulfill its obligations have prompted the Mexican government to meet them or face harsh and immediate consequences.

For the onion industry, this is not a theoretical issue. It is a matter of crop production viability, economic stability and supply chain health. Whether you’re a grower in the Valley, a shipper in the Midwest or a retailer in the Northeast, the ripple effects of this water uncertainty will impact your business.

As treaty negotiations and water diplomacy continue, the National Onion Association remains dedicated to advocating for the needs of its members and all of America’s farmers.

It emphasizes that U.S.-grown produce is among the safest in the world, thanks to rigorous federal oversight and strict regulatory standards.

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Harvest Essentials Buyers' Guide Agri-Stor Companies • agri-stor.com Agri-Star Control Panel

Agri-Stor Companies helps growers take control of their onion storage with Gellert’s Agri-Star Control Panel. Since 1964, Agri-Stor has designed and sold thousands of Agri-Star panels for a wide range of post-harvest products. Through these years of application experience and university-based research, AgriStor Companies has developed its most user-friendly, advanced control panel yet. Features include a full-color, interactive touchscreen, easy-to-understand programming and internet capabilities with an intuitive app.

Fully adaptable to growers’ onion storages, the Agri-Star panel can handle everything including curing mode, burners, humidity, refrigeration, airflow, temperature, carbon dioxide levels, heat and lights. When growers match the AgriStar panel with Gellert’s climate control equipment, their onions are wrapped in the perfect climate, extending their life and quality.

Chinook Equipment, Inc. • chinookequipment.com edp Electro-bagger

The newest onion bagger from edp, model EB-2218-DF, is the most accurate and highest capacity bagger built by edp Australia. This machine will accommodate most any open-mouth bag on the standard 9-inch bag holder. Most customers in the U.S. use this machine for a range of bags from 20 pounds to 50 pounds.

Also available is the ability to fill cartons or crates with the optional cartonfilling attachments. Speed control of both feed belts, pneumatic bag clamps, batch counters and monitoring of weight averages are among the standard features on the EB-2218-DF.

Ernst • ernstusa.com Ernst Expanding Roll Sizer

Ernst’s Expanding Roll Sizer has handled tonnage and throughput with caution, efficiency and precision for over 60 years. Even under the most challenging conditions, the Expanding Roll Sizer consistently achieves over 95% accuracy.

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Onion World • July/August 2025

Kerian Machines • kerian.com Kerian Speed Sizer

The Kerian Speed Sizer sorts onions by size quickly, accurately and gently. The constantly rotating rollers help the turning flaps align the onions with the rollers so that they are consistently sorted by size. The Kerian Speed Sizer is proven in use for whites, reds, golds, browns, Spanish, pearl and many other varieties of onions.

L&M Specialty Fabrication • turbotopharvester.com TT-248 Turbo Top Harvester

Turbo Top’s TT-248 is a self-propelled two-bed onion harvester.

Green onions are one of Turbo Top’s specialties, allowing growers to start harvest earlier and control curing. Day or night harvest? Turbo Top is capable of both. Adverse conditions? Turbo Top can work through the toughest of conditions.

The TT-248 has dual 48-inch-wide pickup elevators for a total harvest pickup width of 132 inches, allowing onions to be picked up how they are grown without windrowing to reduce damage.

TT-248 is powered by a 330-HP John Deere Tier IV Final Package engine. It has infinite cab control of fan speed, primary chain speed, ground speed, load boom speed/movement, cutter bar height and front elevator depth. Its exclusive large topping area eliminates weeds and debris and allows even the greenest tops to be sorted before topping.

Turbo Top comes in different models and has many options to fit growers’ needs.

Lee Shuknecht & Sons, Inc. • shuknecht.com SP-132 Onion Harvester

Lee Shuknecht & Sons, Inc.’s SP-132 is a self-propelled twobed harvester that eliminates windrowing while simultaneously direct loading two beds, for a total production width of 132 inches using 47-inch chains. This low-maintenance mechanical harvester provides the highest percentage topping of green and/or dry onions of all Shuknecht’s onion harvesters while it harvests two to three tons per minute. Powered by a standard 190-hp Cummins engine, the solo operator seated in an air conditioned cab has complete control over blower speed, primary and rear elevator speeds, cutter bar speed and height and ground speed. The twobed harvester features a 4-foot high-capacity boom and easily controlled front pickup elevators with spring-assist floats.

Available options include a moveable 4- or 5-foot dipper, rotating cab, stainless blower housing liners and a 240-hp engine. Digital readouts for the blower, primary chain and ground speed can be included, as well as hydraulic adjustment front elevator gauge wheels. Ground sync primary chain control, a posi-traction fourwheel-drive system and hydraulic trash chain drive can all be built into the SP-132.

The company also custom manufactures pull-behind models with the same quality and topping system to accommodate smaller onion growers.

OnionWorld.net

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Harvest Essentials Buyers' Guide Symach • symach.nl/en Palletizing Equipment

Symach has a long history of palletizing onions and innovating to provide customized modular designs guaranteeing a high stacking rate with maximum flexibility. From 50-pound bulk and baled bags to complex Octabins, Symach has solutions to handle all customers’ palletizing needs.

Symach also offers options to stabilize the pallet at the end of the line, including wrapping and double stacking, and palletizing within the margins of the pallet to ensure ease of loading during the shipping process.

Top Air • topair-usa.com Onion Topper Loader

The 2024 XTR continues to be Top Air’s most capable onion topper loader.

Available in two- or four-bed models, the XTR combines high capacity with superior handling. Featuring a high-performance rotary cutting system, this harvester outperforms in the most challenging harvest conditions on both short- and long-day onions.

Top Air is now taking reservations for 2025 models.

Unisorting • unisorting.com Onion Sort 3 & Uniq Onion

Unisorting, a brand of Unitec Group, develops and manufactures lines for onion sorting that combine high efficiency in the process and preservation of product integrity during each stage.

Onions Sort 3 and Uniq Onions are the latest systems, 100 percent developed in house, for external and internal quality selection of all varieties of onions. These solutions allow users to select the valuable or non-valuable characteristics of any type of onion without damaging the integrity of the product.

An accurate selection of external quality and internal quality, in addition to the detection of weight, optical size and shape, offers high performance solutions for every need. The dedicated technologies, semi-automatic or fully automated, are designed to offer the best possible result and give customers a highly reliable product without internal defects.

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Onion World • July/August 2025

NOA Advocacy • • • • • •

Helped return 1.5 million acre feet of stolen water to the U.S. from Mexico Reinforced the inspection of Canadian onions entering the U.S. to ensure grade standards Secured an annual $500k in IR funding for an onion breeder position in Washington state.

Continues to educate policymakers on food safety issues Updated industry standard food safety guidelines Continues to fight pesticide and herbicide bans Join the National Onion Association and contribute to the policy work that affects your livelihood! www.onions-usa.org/members/membership

06-25 Onion World-7.3x4.9.v1.pdf

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Harvest Essentials Buyers' Guide Univerco • univerco.com Two-Row Onion Harvesters

With 30 years of experience in building one-row onion harvesters, Univerco has introduced its new two-row onion harvesters.

The two-row models are available in both short-day and long-day onion versions. Both units have a similar harvest capacity per day, a steering axle to reduce turning radius on headlands and a system of three cameras so operators can easily monitor the key functions of the machine.

The short-day model has even more options available such as a sorting table, brushes under the topper table to keep the rollers clean at all times, and more angle and speed adjustments of the topper table. These improvements were made in an effort to minimize mechanical damage to onions.

Volm Companies • volmcompanies.com VST30 Palletizer

The VST30 palletizer is designed to offer high stacking performance with minimal manual labor. It can reach a capacity of 22 bags per minute and will position product with the utmost accuracy. The automatic pallet in-feed ensures an automated process, which reduces labor costs.

Volm Companies offers a complete selection of end-of-line palletizing solutions. Volm engineers, constructs and installs Volmstack palletizing systems and has built an impressive portfolio that includes robotic, conventional, case stacking, bin filling and plate palletizing systems.

calendar

July 9-12

Aug. 28

Holiday Inn Richland on the River, Richland, Wash. www.onions-usa.org

Weyns Farms, Othello, Wash.

Tim Waters, (509) 545-3511 or twaters@wsu.edu

NOA Summer Convention

Aug. 27

Nov. 19-20

Malheur Agricultural Experiment Station, Ontario, Oregon Jan Jones 541-889-2174 or janet.jones@oregonstate.edu

Three Rivers Convention Center, Kennewick, Wash.

Sheri Nolan, (509) 585-5460 or www.pnva.org

Malheur Experiment Station Onion Variety Day

Aug. 28

Crookham Onion Showcase

Wilder, Idaho Crookham Company, (208) 459-7451 16

WSU Onion Field Day

Onion World • July/August 2025

Pacific Northwest Vegetable Association Conference and Trade Show

Nov. 30 - Dec. 5

NOA Annual Convention

Royal Sonesta Hotel, Kaua'i, Hawaii www.onions-usa.org

new products

Topcon Agriculture Announces Value Line AutoSteering System

Topcon Agriculture has launched its Value Line Steering option, a new offering aimed at making precision farming accessible for small and medium-sized farming operations. The Value Line Steering system makes advanced autosteering capabilities compatible with a wider range of tractors and enables older tractors to operate at sub-5 cm accuracy levels previously reserved for new, high-end machinery, according to the company.

Visit www.topconpositioning.com.

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17

Blue Sky Onions

An Example of Efficiency

By Rutger Keurhorst, Chief Commercial Officer, Eqraft

B

lue Sky Onions in Royal City, Washington, has taken automation and efficiency to new heights in the last few years. The onion grower and packer installed the first fully automated electronic grader from Eqraft on the West Coast and adopted the European method of grading and packing.

Owners of Blue Sky Onions took a leap of faith when they decided to skip the half measures and invest in automation across the board. Opting for a new electronic onion grader as well as a newly built packing shed featuring several weighing and packing machines, Blue Sky Onions is now one of Eqraft’s exemplary projects on the West Coast.

Family Farm

Blue Sky Onions is a family business, founded in the 1970s by Jake Wardenaar’s parents. The family moved

to Royal City over 50 years ago and has been building a stable business ever since, growing and packing onions and shipping them to clients in the retail grocery and foodservice industry.

In addition to onions, the family business also grows potatoes, apples, cherries, alfalfa, green peas, corn and wheat. Blue Sky supplies its produce to the Basin Gold Cooperative, a group of growers and shippers that markets the onions. Wardenaar grew up on the farm but gained experience at another company for about eight years after college before joining his older brother, Joel, in the family business.

“I’m responsible for the onions, from grading to packing and selling. That also includes making strategic decisions such as investing in new equipment. My brother runs the farm operations of the onions and other crops,” Jake Wardenaar said.

Clear Vision

The decision to purchase Eqraft’s electronic grader was years in the making, according to Wardenaar. With his family being of Dutch heritage, he has a personal connection to the Netherlands and has been visiting the country for years – both for business and pleasure.

About seven years ago, he received an invitation from Eqraft for the first demonstration of the Eqrader optical onion sorting machine at HOZA in the Netherlands.

“I went and spoke to Eqraft about what I thought had to be done to make the technology work for our U.S. onions as well,” Wardenaar said, referring to the difference in onion size. Onions grown in the western U.S. are much larger than their European counterparts, requiring machinery and technology to be adapted.

In the years after that, he continued

Jake Wardenaar and Jose Madrigal of Blue Sky Onions in Royal City, Wash., stand in front of their Eqrader optical onion grading line.

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Onion World • July/August 2025

to follow the development of the onion grader. He even visited several reference projects in the Netherlands including the world’s largest automated onion processing line at MSP Onions, as well as Go Products, a smaller family business.

“During those trips, I got a good sense of what the Eqrader could do and how I wished to implement it in my own business,” he said. “When the time came to invest, I already had a clear vision on how we would do things, so the decisions were made fairly fast.”

SEEDWAY_Onion World_Oct2021_Layout 1 10/4/2021 2:52 PM Page 1

Against the Grain

In addition to investing in an optical grader, Blue Sky also built a brand-new shed for its new Eqraft packing line and adopted the European standard for packing. This means graded onions go into storage before they’re packed instead of sending them directly from the grader to the packing line, as is common in the U.S. Many U.S.-based packers think it’s best to avoid the extra step of putting produce in storage first, but it’s actually the opposite, according to Mike Kooijman, technical sales executive at Eqraft.

“By putting the onions in bins and leaving them in storage for a little while, they are given time to heal before being packed and transported. We take gentle handling very seriously at every step of the process,” Kooijman said.

More importantly, having a storage with already graded onions in different categories benefits efficient packing.

“Before grading the onions, you don’t know exactly what you’re going to get out of a batch; you might need category A onions but end up with predominantly category B,” Kooijman said. “Taking fewer onions out of a batch than you anticipated means your packing machine can’t perform at full capacity, slowing the process down.”

“By packing a batch of onions you haven’t sold yet, you risk having to pack the batch again because the client prefers a different type of bag,” he added, explaining that having graded onions in storage allows the packing line to use its full capacity and increases flexibility, and that makes a difference on the factory floor.

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

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Blue Sky Onions

Using internal and external scans and AI, the Eqrader sorts onions at high speed by quality, size, weight, shape and color.

"We're really happy with how quickly we are able to react to client orders now," Wardenaar said.

No More Heavy Lifting

After a trip to the Netherlands in the spring of 2022, Wardenaar signed on the project in the summer of that same year.

Just before Christmas 2023, the new lines were up and running.

“We had to build the new packing shed, take care of the permitting process, install the new lines, get everything up and running, and learn how to work with the new equipment,” he said of that challenging first year.

Being the first Eqrader installation that processes West Coast onions, the machinery and technology had to be tweaked to fit a larger-sized product.

“Blue Sky took a leap of faith on us, and we’re grateful for that,” Kooijman said.

After working with the new line for over a year, Wardenaar said he’s glad he did it.

“With the Eqrader, we’ve added 50% more capacity compared to the previous situation. We’re very pleased with it, as we can now do a much better job in 20

Onion World • July/August 2025

The Eqraft Combination Weigher, Baxmatic auto-bagger, Sewing Lane and Crate Fillers work together seamlessly.

sorting out onions with skin discoloration and internal rot, and grade them accurately based on sizing,” he said.

“Thanks to the level of automation, there are no jobs that require heavy lifting anymore. What’s left is just some light manual work, such as hanging bags onto the Baxmatic bagging machine. It’s a nice working environment for our crew.”

Wardenaar is glad he ultimately decided to opt for a complete new grading and packing line, investing in a new building as well as several machines that will help him face daily challenges for years to come.

“It was a risky endeavor because a large sum of money was involved,” he said. “But I think these types of long-term investments ultimately pay off.”

Like Eqraft, he believes in looking ahead and securing future-proof equipment for the coming decades.

“Instead of trying to solve an individual problem we’re facing today, I try to anticipate the problems we will encounter further down the line, investing in comprehensive solutions that will set us up for long-term success.”

A Symach palletizer stacks and wraps a pallet of bagged onions, ready for transport.

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San Joaquin Valley

Brian Haddon Area Manager (971) 282-2884

Russ Brown Area Manager (559) 799-0799

Texas

Clegg Smith, Area Manager (956) 340-0022

Northeast / Midwest

Josh Heller, Area Manager (717) 940-5440

Imperial Valley & Yuma, AZ

Scott Richards Area Manager (928) 580-2484

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Derek Levy, Sales Rep. (912) 433-4752 New Mexico

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

(831) 679-1900 • www.gowanseed.com P.O. Box 190 • Chualar, CA 93925 | 25445 Chualar River Road • Chualar, CA 93925

OnionWorld.net

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IN THE NEWS

Plastic Packaging Manufacturers Plan Merger IPL, a manufacturer of rigid-plastic products, is planning to merge with Schoeller Allibert, a manufacturer of reusable transport packaging.

The proposed merger creates an international sustainable packaging producer with a manufacturing footprint in 27 locations across North America, Europe and the United Kingdom.

IPL mainly manufactures sustainable, rigid-plastic products for the agriculture, food, consumer and environmental sectors. Schoeller Allibert manufactures returnable transport packaging, primarily in continental Europe.

The merged company will be headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. The deal is expected to close this fall.

Syngenta Opens Seed Health Lab Syngenta Vegetable Seeds has opened a $9 million seed health lab in the Netherlands. The facility features technologies for bacterial, fungal and virus disease testing as part of Syngenta’s global quality control network. With the capacity to process tens of thousands of tests annually, the lab is designed to help the company rapidly respond to emerging phytosanitary challenges and maintain high standards of seed health. Seeds tested at the new facility are sold to customers all over the world.

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Onion World • July/August 2025

Redox Fills New Director Position Redox Bio-Nutrients has hired Cora Chandler as the company’s first director of product management. Chandler has been in the agricultural industry for 15 years, including the last seven years carrying out product management with a large nutrition company.

Her prior work included collaborating with national supplier leads to secure product and alignment on programs, along with analyzing products and portfolios for profitability and agronomic benefits.

Kerian Sizer Sort Onions By Size With No Labor Costs

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