By Clint Thompson
There were fewer Vidalia onions in Georgia this year. It was a direct result of the freeze event during last Christmas, believes Chris Tyson, University of Georgia Extension area onion agent at the Vidalia Onion & Vegetable Research Center in Lyons, Georgia.
He discussed how much of this year’s crop was lost as a result of multiple days of sub-freezing temperatures.
“We’re doing good considering everything we had to go through this year. Our crop as a whole is shorter than normal due to the freeze back in December. As an industry, everybody is down on what their normal production is. That could be anywhere from 10% to 30%, depending on the grower,” Tyson said. “What you have left, you’ve got to go through there and grade the onions, and you’re going to have some culls from that. You can account for some loss there as well; easily 15% to 25% in an average year. When you add up the usual losses plus the loss from the freeze, overall, it’s just a shorter crop this year. There are just less onions to go around.
“I think what we’ve gotten out of the field and what we’re packing are good onions. It’s just a shorter crop and makes it a little tougher year when you add all of those things up.”