"Global rise in onion consumption offers big opportunities for onion cultivation"

Last week an international group participated in the Hazera study tour in California. Here the onion breeding, production, processing and sales in California (US) were topical. The tour started on April 18 with presentations from Ben de Nijs (Regional Product Manager Onion) and Bob Munger (Commercial Manager US) spoke about Hazera's American activities, the company has a market share of 12% in the global onion seed market.

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"Our hybrid varieties are the result of decades of research and include the total assortment of extra long day onions, such as the Rijnsburgers, set onions, long day onions - divided into hard globe and Spanish, the intermediate day, the short day onions and overwintering onions. We offer white, red, pink and yellow onions in these categories for the various geographical areas with the different climate conditions," says Ben, who is the link between breeding and the market as the product manager for onions. The sales of Hazera onions seeds to growers is mainly done through distributors (dealers), who have their manpower spread over the production areas.

Ben de Nijs in an archive photo in the Netherlands

Break through varieties
"Before Hazera markets varieties, they are carefully screened for essential characteristics such as reliability, high yield, firmness, uniformity and continuity for the grower. Our hybrids are offering high net yields and (in some cases) the best storability. Our breakthrough varieties were Centro and Dormo (extra long day) and Taresco (long day). Although the product characteristics for short day onions is slightly different, we see that firmness and skin retention are also becoming important aspects for this crop type. These characteristics are needed to make them suitable for mechanical harvest."

Bob Munger

Bob Munger - active in the American seed business for 40 years - explained more about the American onion production, which now covers over 45,000 hectares. The largest cultivation areas are located in the states Washington, Idaho, California, Texas and Georgia. A lot of onions are grown for the domestic market, but some production areas have a fixed outlet to foreign markets, including Asia from the Pacific north west (Washington, Oregon and Idaho). There is also import, in particular from countries like Peru. The production of organic onions shows a gradual growth. Although the flat onions and pink onions are a niche market, they’re strong and settled markets and they supply an increasing demand for innovative and special products like these.

Hazera's breeding program in California breeds yellow, red and white onions focused for the American market. Breeding fields are located in California, Texas, Georgia, but also in Mexico. In Mexico the white onions is popular, which is why Hazera puts more focus on the breeding of white onions here than elsewhere. Breeder Pablo Salgado indicated at Hazera's breeding field in California that patience is vital to breeding. "It can take three to five years to develop a hybrid, but before it can be launched on the market this process could take up more than 15 years. The different weather conditions are critical to the breeding programs as varieties might react different under changing weather condition. In Texas and Mexico the rainfall can be huge, here in California there is a shortage."

Breeder Pablo

Due to the fact that many American produced onions find their way in to the processing industry, the criteria are different from elsewhere in the world. In contrast to the (northwest) European production the storage life of short day onions is a less important criteria. "A variety can look great, but if it doesn't give production, it will be a no-go," the breeder explained. The skin retention is also becoming an increasingly important item. "Due to the rising labour costs we can't continue harvesting by hand for the fresh market here. We work hard on the development of short day onions which can be harvest mechanically, but we are not the only ones."

Disease resistance
Disease resistances has a high priority on our agenda in terms of breeding. The predecessors of Hazera started developing disease resistance in 1986. "The introduction of high resistance against downy mildew, a destructive disease which can destroy a full harvest, was a break through. Our variety Santero, which has this resistance, was also welcomed by organic growers. Currently we keep on anticipating on the increasing disease pressure all over the world, for example on Pinkroot and on Fusarium. One of our latest introductions, Miss Scarlett, a red short day onion, is doing reasonably well in Pinkroot affected soils. An added advantage is that the variety is very early, which means it can be on the fresh red market early."

Concluding the tour, Ben de Nijs gave a presentation on the global opportunities for onions, in terms of area - 2,500,000 hectares / 80 million tonne - the second vegetable in the world and in terms of global trade, the biggest product. "Populations are increasing rapidly in areas where a lot of onions are consumed, for example in Africa. This is why it is our expectation that the average consumption will increase from 6,2kg per person per year, to 9.5 kg per person per year in 2050. This increase in the onion consumption creates big opportunities for the onion production. We also expect an increase in the consumption of red onions in particular and expect the onion to play an important role in the convenience food trend."

For more information:
Ben de Nijs
Regional Product Manager Root & Bulb
Hazera
M (US): +1 863 303 2974
M (NL): +31 (0) 6 4387 0326
E: ben.de.nijs@hazera.com
www.hazera.com