Northwest growers planning and planting new onion crops
Despite all this some Idaho-Eastern Oregon and the Northwest in general are optimistic, and are beginning to plant across the region. On March 14 Brent Ishida of Brent Ishida Farms in Adrian, OR, told OnionBusiness.com he has been planting since March 8.
“We have 200 acres in the ground now,” Brent said. “We are taking four days to prep, and by next week we will have our final 30 acres planted. We also expect that we will be seeing sprouts within the next week or so.” Brent, who farms ground on both the Idaho and Oregon side of the IEO border said.
Kitamura Farms near Ontario, OR, has about 30 acres in the ground now, “with many more acres to go.” and are “cranking hard to keep planting.”
Dan Borer with Keystone Fruit Marketing in Walla Walla said Keystone’s growers are gearing up to plant their early spring seeded variety crop. “We have had some wet weather, but our growers are putting everything in place and they are ready to plant,” Dan said.
“Generally speaking for the Northwest, this is the time of year when growers are making decisions about acreage. Unlike orchardists who grow tree fruit, row croppers can be flexible about what they plant, and many of them make decisions based on what is currently going on in the market,” Dan continued, “It’s hard to say if this year’s market will impact whether growers will decrease their acres or possibly not plant at all.”
source: onionbusiness.com
