With a continuing focus on regional retail, Fagerberg Farms/Fagerberg Produce in Eaton, CO, kicked off the 2021 onion shipping season with its full slate of conventional varieties on Aug. 16, with organics to follow in September.

Harvest came about a week later than normal due to cooler temps in April, company President Ryan Fagerberg said. The start included “all colors and sizes, including Colorado Sweets,” adding that, “we have reshaped our organic program and are hoping that area of our company can gain more traction this upcoming shipping season. Our Colorado Organics will be ready to ship the first or second week of September.”

The company started bringing onions in the week of Aug. 13 and has all sizes and colors. "Organics will be in full swing in a few weeks," Ryan Fagerberg told The Produce News. "We’re growing red and yellow organics, and we do have a source for whites, so we’ll have all three colors. Next season we will grow all three colors in organic.”

The company is transitioning farms to meet organic demand as it increases.

Fagerberg added that this season’s start is being met by growing demand for more regionally aligned produce in retail.

“Retail has been placing a higher emphasis on regional items. Transportation costs are part of it,” Fagerberg said, adding that consumers are also requesting more regionally grown items as they become more aware of where their food is produced.  

The fifth-generation family farm in northern Colorado grows approximately 1,200 acre of onions, 70 percent of which are yellows with the balance split between reds and whites. Rotation crops are also grown, and Fagerberg and his father, Lynn, head up the production/farming sides of the operation, respectively.

Looking back at 2020, Fagerberg said the company finished the season “overall fine,” noting that because of the pandemic, “We were busier than normal last spring. We dedicate most of our product to retail, and our sales were up (as foodservice declined nationwide).”

The operation also took part in the Farmers to Families Food Box Program with onions from its 2019 harvest.

Fagerberg Farms/Produce faces issues universal to the produce industry — labor and transportation — and this year opted out of the H-2A program, Fagerberg said. “We quit because of the unpredictability of the adverse wage rate,” he said. “We have had to change rates in the middle of our contract.”

He said the operation has been able to use local labor sources, however. “We’ve been able to get employees and retain them. We have enough to get the job done.”

He said the company came through the worst of 2020’s COVID-19 disruptions.

“We still filled every order,” Fagerberg said. The crews adhered to pandemic protocol, and the company staggered break times to allow for more distancing in the two break rooms. “Our goal was to provide an environment they were comfortable in,” he said.