Overall size looking good for Fort Boise
Overall size looking good for Fort Boise
Noting that portions of the Treasure Valley have seen reduced onion sizing and some reduction in yields due to record heat this summer, Joe Farmer, general manager for Fort Boise Produce in Parma, ID, said he’s expecting overall good sizing.
“Right now,” he said in early September, “it’s early to say what the yields will be, but we think our growers overall will have good sizes.
Dave Larsen, field operations, said one-third of the company’s fields are under drip irrigation, and he noted that the heat affected a very small percentage of Fort Boise’s crop.
Sales Manager Ashley Robertson said she is seeing an increase in retail sales, and the company has stepped up its consumer packs to meet that market demand.
The packs are primarily three-, five- and 10-pound bags, with “very few two-pounders,” she said.
“We started packing Aug. 26,” Robertson said. “That’s just a little later than normal. And we will start putting onions into storage in mid-September.”
The company, which ships 90 percent yellow Spanish Sweet onions, utilizes packingline software that provides product a “more controlled pathway from storage to pack,” Farmer has said. The streamlined process reduces handling. In addition, the packingshed’s roller sizers have been replaced with computer-automated equipment, and the shed also has video inspections that are posted on line at traceproduce.com.
