In 1898, a packet of Bermuda onion seeds was planted near Cotulla, TX. In spring of 1899, the resulting crop was shipped to Milwaukee, WI, and the mild, sweet onions were an instant hit. The next year a larger crop was planted and an industry was born.

Onions caught on quickly in the hot, dry climate. By 1904, 500 acres of Bermuda onions were planted in south Texas. In 1907, 1,011 train carloads of onions were shipped out of state. The next year, production doubled. In 1917 that figure leapt to 6,735 loads and by 1920 Texas had virtually put Bermuda out of the onion business.

Bermuda seeds had a tendency to bolt or split. The impact on production led to the first onion-breeding program in the state at the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station in Winter Garden in 1933. That same year, working in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, researchers from Texas A&M University bred the Texas Grano 502, considered the mother of all sweet onions produced around the world today.

By 1940 the new onions were entering commercial production, and in 1944 TAMU released the 502 for sale around the world.

Four decades later, another TAMU researcher, Leonard Pike, now retired, would revolutionize the industry.

When it comes to vegetables in Texas, onions are atop the heap. The state moves between $75 million and $100 million worth of onions annually. The majority of those are sweet Granex onions, but there are plenty of reds and white as well. The overall impact on the Texas economy is about $350 million each year.

Much of that success can be directly attributed to the development of the Texas 1015 Y.

Pike’s contributions to the industry were legendary, but he has typically downplayed his achievements over the years.

His wife, Roxy A. Pike, told The Produce News, “When I surprised Leonard with a personalized Texas license plate with ‘1015’ on it, his first reaction was, ‘I can’t drive around with that on my truck!’ I explained part of the cost went to scholarships at TAMU and he finally relented. Later, he was very proud of it and it opened the door for him to ‘talk onions.’ As his wife, I can tell you he never has accepted that he is a celebrity. He simply enjoyed his work more than anyone I have ever known, had a great energy and passion for it and, as he says, ‘I loved helping people.’ “

Bhimu Patil is one of the people Pike helped. A former student of Pike, today Patil is an esteemed professor and director of The Vegetable Improvement Center at TAMU — the same position his mentor held.

“I was a student of Dr. Pike when he was breeding onions. My job is to take the next step and it’s not easy to fill his shoes,” Patil said. “We are going beyond what they used to do.

“The varieties developed at A&M after Dr. Pike are milder and sweeter still. The 1015 was a great contribution to the Texas onion industry at that time and even now. If he didn’t develop the 1015 the industry wouldn’t be here now. Recently a study was done on how it affected the economy of Texas. Over 10 years it contributed about $350 million and still the economic impact of the 1015 on the Texas economy is tremendous.”