Harvest of the 2014 crop of Spanish Sweets kicked off on Aug. 11 for J.C. Watson in Parma, ID, and company President Jon Watson said volume is up and quality is excellent.

“We had an unusually hot summer, but with our drip irrigation 100 percent in place we grew a very nice crop,” he said. “It is the best crop I’ve ever had, in fact.”

Watson said the onions came on “a little early, which benefits putting them into storage,” and he added, “We picked a good year to have large-size bulbs.”

This year the operation converted more of its apple storage to refrigerated onion storage, and Watson said, “This allows us orderly marketing of our crop into May. We need to harvest and refrigerate and decided to extend our season on the tail end.”

Treasure Valley Spanish Sweets are the focal point of J.C. Watson’s year-round program, and Watson said, “The additional refrigeration means we can take our new-crop onions into spring.”

Commenting on trends, which have run the gamut during the company’s 102 years in operation, Watson said whole peeled onions to wholesale distribution are gaining traction.

“We are supplying more to people who fresh-cut regionally, and our new packingline fills large totes that are used to ship fresh-cut and process. So we’re seeing growth in that segment and also seeing more retail. We put in packing machines as we grow, expanding our fresh-cut and process on one end and our retail on the other,” Watson said.

Watson’s son, Bradley, oversees the packing facility; son-in-law Colbie Libsak is crop manager.

“Brad works on the packing end and the technology involved in different packs, and Colbie is on the farming end, working on different types of sustainable practices,” Watson said. “We have some good young enthusiasm here.”

As technology advances, so do methods used at J.C. Watson. “All of our harvest is mechanical, and we are getting more efficient in storage as well. What used to take six weeks in harvest now takes us about three-and-a-half weeks. Also, our storage is equipped with both refrigeration and heat. Our tractors drive themselves, and we can change the water with our iPhones. Drip irrigation has allowed us to move into new onion ground while we rest fields and rotate more.”

Watson said this season the company is also using rail transport to a greater degree. “We can load straight on rail because we have our door on the Union Pacific line. Some of our larger partners are on direct rail, and UP has refrigerated cars that are conducive for shipping onions,” he said.

Shipments to Canada are part of the program, and Watson said the company is “looking at some to the Far East as we work with foodservice outlets in Asia. We supply them directly, from our door to theirs.”