California will start shipping some onions in early April from Mexico and begin with its own shipments from the Imperial Valley toward the latter part of the month. The early-season onions are expected to be in good supply, but when the harvest moves to the San Joaquin Valley, lack of rain and good water could play a major role in decreased supplies.

Gerry Valois, who is on the sales desk for Western Onion Sales Inc. in Camarillo, CA, told The Produce News March 25 that he will start shipping Mexican onions out of California in a “very slow way on April 6.” If all goes as planned, he expects to have white, red and yellow onions by the third week of the month.

Western Onion has about 350 acres south of the border, and onions cross into the United States at the San Luis port of entry below Yuma, AZ.  

Though these onions are grown in Mexico and sold as Mexican onions, for all intents and purposes they are part of the Imperial Valley deal. Valois said they are typically the same varieties being used and the districts are governed by the same weather patterns.  The Mexican onions usually start about a week earlier.

Speaking about both production areas, he said the mild winter has produced a good crop that will have a good size portfolio this season, with plenty of jumbo-sized onions.

Doug Stanley, general manager of Harris Fresh, which is headquartered in the San Joaquin Valley city of Coalinga, said his firm’s crop of onions from the Imperial Valley will get going in mid- to late April, and is about a week ahead of schedule. He noted that the mild winter has produced a very good crop that is sizing very well.  

Stanley said the disease pressure hasn’t been an issue and neither is water in the desert location. Imperial Valley has some good water sources, including from the Colorado River, so growers in this area are not facing water-related problems.

That is not the case in the San Joaquin Valley. Valois expects the Lamont-Arvin district in the southern San Joaquin Valley to begin the last week in May. Stanley agreed with that prediction stating that most growers will start between May 28 and June 2.

Valois said lack of water has been an issue as growers have had to move around to find acreage that has access to water. Stanley said virtually no San Joaquin Valley onion field has received or will receive an abundance of high-quality water this year. The state and federal water projects are operating under the premise of zero to 10 percent water allocation.  

Growers have to rely on carryover or less-than-ideal well water. Stanley said the lower-quality water will most likely result in less tonnage per acre and smaller sizes.  

“Jumbos and colossals are going to be at a premium this summer,” he said.   

The onion deal took an upward turn in the market toward the end of March and Texas shippers were predicting a good market throughout April because of fewer supplies from that region of the country.

If that production pans out, California shippers could see a very good market as their season gets under way and they may watch it get even hotter if the state’s water issues result in the decreased production that is currently predicted.