Excellent quality for Fiesta Farms
Excellent quality for Fiesta Farms
In early July Marc Bybee, vice president of Nyssa, OR-based Fiesta Farms, was concerned the Treasure Valley of Idaho-Eastern Oregon was looking at a bumper crop of onions. By early September his take on the season had changed.
“We have excellent quality, and in my opinion better than the early onions last year,” Bybee said. “But a large number of fields were hurt by the summer’s record heat and by the yellow spotted iris virus.”
He said Fiesta Farm’s own onion acreage was somewhat reduced this year, noting, “We encourage our growers to plant responsibly.” And he said more of the fields are under drip irrigation, which makes for a more consistent size and yield.
“But there are some fields in the area where many of the onions won’t make it to the shed. And there are some really great fields. Right now I don’t know what the overall crop in the Treasure Valley will be, but the heat has put us in an extremely manageable position where we were earlier looking at a very large crop,” he said.
“Indications point to not a bad year price-wise. Size will be different shed to shed. Some sheds will have plenty of onions. At Fiesta Farms our quality will be fine, but we may be slightly short on onions for the season. Of course it always comes down to marketing, and hopefully we can be smart about it.”
