TakesNOAtothe Road ONION WORLD OnionWorld.net • September/October 2022 Five Minutes With Kay Riley • Test Drive • New Food Safety Guidelines American Takii ..................3 Bejo FoxEnzaClearwaterChinook................................15Equipment........13Supply..........20Zaden.....................16Packaging.................19 Fox Solutions ..................17 Gearmore .......................18 Gowan Seed ...................10 L&M ................................12 NOA ..................................8 Noffsinger .......................21 Nunhems ........................20 PNVA SeedwayRedwood.................................9Empire............19...........................7 Teleos Ag ........................23 TheOnionPodcast.comSponsoredbyNovasource .13 Vegetables by Bayer .......24 Verbruggen .....................11 Advertiser Index
2 Onion World • September / October 2022 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 4 New Food Safety Guidelines for the Onion Industry NOA Summer Convention 10 Field Trials Focus on Food Safety Could late-season water applications have played a role in the 2020 and 2021 Salmonella outbreaks? Field trials are underway to find out. 14 Storage Essentials Buyers' Guide 16 Five Minutes With… Kay Riley, Retired General Manager, Snake River Produce Company 18 Test Drive University of Idaho Researchers Helping Develop Solar-Powered Weeding Robot PO Box 333 Roberts, Idaho 83444 Telephone: (208) 520-6461 Circulation: (503) 724-3581 OnionWorld.net ONION WORLD CONTACTS Editor Denise editor@ColumbiaMediaGroup.comKeller Publisher / Advertising Manager Dave dave@ColumbiaMediaGroup.comAlexander Director of Operations Brian brian@ColumbiaMediaGroup.comFeist EDITORIAL INFORMATION Onion World is interested in newsworthy material related to onion production and marketing. Contributions from all segments of the industry are welcome. Submit news releases, new product submissions, stories and photos via email editor@ColumbiaMediaGroup.com,to: or call (509) 697-9436. ADVERTISING SALES For information on rates, mechanics, deadlines, list rental, direct mail, inserts or other information, call (208) 520-6461 or email: dave@onionworld.net SUBSCRIPTIONS U.S. $24 per year Canada $40 per year Foreign $80 per year Subscribe online www.OnionWorld.net/subscribeat: or call (503) 724-3581. Email address changes/corrections to brian@ColumbiaMediaGroup.com or mail to: Onion World PO Box 333 Roberts, ID 83444 Onion World magazine (ISSN 0892-578X), is published eight times a year and mailed under a standard rate mailing permit at Idaho Falls, Idaho and at additional mailing offices. Produced by Columbia Media Group PO Box 333, Roberts, ID, 83444. Copyright 2022. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose without the express written permission of Columbia Media Group. For information on reprints call (208) 520-6461. ONION WORLD Volume 38, Number 6 See if you can identify this disease in our Onion Disease Quiz on page 12. Duane Kido (left) and Kris Kido with Top Air Inc, in Parma, Idaho, display the rod lifter (front), donated for the National Onion Association (NOA) auction, and Top Air’s new TL 4400 XTR harvester with high performance rotary cutters. The Top Air Inc. factory was part of the NOA’s ag tour, held during the summer convention July 6-9 in Boise, Idaho. Read about the convention on page 4. ON THE COVER 22201912DEPARTMENTS...OnionDiseaseQuiz...Calendar...IntheNews...FromtheNOA22...AdvertiserIndex TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Readers may also discover areas of potential concern that they may not have considered before in the new document. The new guidelines also spell research and found commonalities that linked back to one California farm. Agricultural water and soil samples tested positive for the pathogen on that farm.Greg Yielding, NOA executive vice president, said new onion food safety guidelines were in the works even before the outbreaks. Though he said FDA has never proven the outbreaks came from onions, and the exact genome strain that made people sick was never found in onions, he wants onion buyers and retailers to know that the onion grower industry cares about food safety and wants to employ the best production practices relating to food safety.
The 2022 guidelines are presented in a user-friendly, practical document, and are a big improvement over the first edition. The second edition has a new focus on production and curing practices, irrigation methods and water quality, application of compounds such as sunshade, and post-harvest cleaning and sanitation practices.
Story and photos
2022 NOA SUMMER CONVENTION
Attendees at the National Onion Association (NOA) summer convention, held July 6-9 in Boise, Idaho, were handed a “nearly final” 40-page copy of “Commodity Specific Food Safety Guidelines for the Dry Bulb Onion Supply Chain” upon registration for the convention.Thissecond edition of a document first written in 2010 is a collaboration between the NOA and the International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA). The two groups teamed up in response to a first ever recorded Salmonella Newport outbreak linked to U.S-grown fresh onions in 2020 and a Salmonella Oranienburg outbreak in 2021, traced to onions imported from Mexico. Though all tests in onions for Salmonella Newport were negative in the first incident, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) used trace-back Greg Yielding, executive vice president of the NOA, announces featured convention speaker Gretchen Wall, director of food safety and quality with the International Fresh Produce Association. Wall presented a final draft of “Food Safety Guidelines for the Dry Bulb Onion Supply Chain.”
4 Onion World • September / October 2022
is to raise awareness of food safety. The guidelines can also be used to educate a wider audience about onion production, including retailers, regulators and buyers. To this aim, the new document contains information such as when particular geographic markets harvest, differences in varieties and day length, and mechanized versus hand harvesting.
Gretchen Wall, director of food safety and quality for IFPA, in her featured presentation at the convention echoed Yielding’s thoughts on best practices and said the goal of the new guidelines
New Food Safety Guidelines for the Onion Industry by Dave Alexander, Publisher
DO: Clean and sanitize (when appropriate) food contact surfaces after handling onions that may have been contaminated or show signs of rot.
DON'T: Rely upon the intrinsic antimicrobial compounds in onions as a substitute for food safety best practices because research shows human pathogens may still grow.
Communicate to customers through the supply chain about the need to properly store and handle onions to keep them dry and minimize the potential for cross-contamination.
DO: Maintain appropriate documentation to meet regulatory and market food safety requirements.
DON'T: Harvest onions that are visibly contaminated with feces or that are decayed/damaged.
Growers at the NOA were encouraged to review the guidelines so that lastminute changes could be adopted.
Now that it is uploaded, the second edition should become the gold standard for the onion industry to produce safe product. It is available at resources.food-safety/commodity-specific-www.freshproduce.com/resources/ in Dry Bulb Onion Production
Do's and Don'ts
Source: “2022 Commodity Specific Food Safety Guidelines for the Dry Bulb Onion Supply Chain.”
DON'T: Pack or process onions if the neck is not adequately cured.
Producers may be asked a series of questions specific to onions, and inspectors may also do sampling “for cause,” as Wall put it.
DO: Train workers on applicable food safety practices to understand the specifics of onion production and food safety considerations.
“If you haven’t thought about your compliance with the Produce Safety Rule, you should take a step back. Consider going to the grower training at the very least,” she said.
DO: Follow Good Agricultural Practices, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule (PSR), and other applicable regulations and guidance.
Since April, the FDA has been doing on-farm onion inspection assignments for those growers subject to the Produce Safety Rule, presumably in response to the Salmonella outbreaks.
DON'T: Harvest onions that are wet, if avoidable.
DO: Keep onions dry by properly managing harvest, curing, and storage practices. ...ensure a properly cured neck as applicable, as this may be an entry point for contamination.
DO: Expect that onions that show signs of rot or decay are more likely to support the growth of human pathogens and therefore have greater possibility for contamination.
“I’m not entirely sure what constitutes ‘for-cause’ sampling. I would assume it would be an egregious situation - contamination directly on the produce or something of that nature,” Wall said. Wall and Yielding agree that the onion industry has a vested interest in all onion producers adopting food safety practices. Produce pathogen outbreaks always draw a lot of negative attention. Wall said IFPA has seen outbreaks a number of times in the
DO: Actively and continuously evaluate potential food safety hazards, including those introduced by weather or other changing environmental factors, recognizing the diversity of the commodity, harvest, postharvest, storage, and transportation practices.
OnionWorld.net 5 out which practices are required by law, give recommendations for best practices accepted by the U.S. dry bulb onion industry, and contain a helpful “Do’s and Don’ts” chart.
leafy green industry, and each time retail sales have dropped and it takes a long time for sales to rebound.
NOA Takes to the Road
2022 NOA SUMMER CONVENTION
Attendees visited, in order, Oregon State University Malheur Experiment Station, Owyhee Produce, Top Air Inc., Vegetables by Bayer onion test plots and Crookham Seed’s breeding facility. At the end of the long day, NOA members suited up for the banquet and annual auction, which raised over $48,000 to fund NOA promotions.
Homer Holmes with Gearmore Inc. (left) enjoys the NOA banquet and Visitorsauction.check out seed company displays and grab some swag at the Malheur Experiment Station during the NOA ag tour.
The new storage building at Owyhee Produce features the latest IVI Imperium controls.
The NOA raised $48,525 at its annual auction to benefit NOA promotions.
The National Onion Association (NOA) summer convention in Boise, Idaho, featured an ag tour on July 8. The day was fully packed, with five total stops.
OnionWorld.net 7 LancasterUNITED STATES&SanJoaquin Valley (661) 9785342 Desert Southwest (928) 4467737 Colorado & New Mexico (970) 3969728 Idaho, East Oregon, Utah & Nevada (208) 9411421 Skagit Valley, Washington (360) 9417503 Rio Grande Valley & West Texas (956) 6185574 Torreón,MEXICOCoahuila (461) 1173878 Colima, Col. (461) 1040134 San Luis Potosi (461) 1409452 Chihuahua (461) 1719401 Tamaulipas (461) 1342421 Irapuato, Gto. (461) 5465792 Your Acres. Your Livelihood. Our Priority. (800) WWW.SEEDWAY.COM952-7333 SEEDWAY_Onion World_Oct2021_Layout 1 10/4/2021 2:52 PM Page 1 The ag tour included a surprise stop at the Crookham breeding facility to see the company’s seed cages, complete with bees and flies. Shay Meyers with Owyhee Produce (right) speaks to Jody Easterday with Easterday Farms Produce at the impressive Owyhee Produce packing shed during the NOA ag tour. ONIONWORLDE-News Industry news to your onionworld.net/e-news-sign-upinbox:
Stuart Reitz and OSU research assistant “onion girl” Sawyer Craig greet NOA members at the Oregon State University Malheur Experiment Station.
8 Onion World • September / October 2022
2022 NOA SUMMER CONVENTION
A quick stop was made at some trial plots for Vegetables by Bayer where Richard Navarette, Jay Sutton and Jade Takehara were on hand to answer questions.
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Field Trials Focus on Food Safety played a role in the 2020 and 2021 are underway to find out.
and
Despite two Salmonella outbreaks linked to dry bulb onions in 2020 and 2021, the industry still has questions about how this level of widespread contamination could have happened –twice. FDA’s investigation report from the 2020 outbreak provided few answers, but proposed animal intrusion, adjacent land use and contaminated water as potential contributing factors.
Could late-season water applications have
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A group of three food safety microbiologists and two crop specialists have teamed up to figure out what could have happened. The team includes Joy Waite-Cusic, Oregon State University (OSU); Linda Harris, University of California, Davis; Faith Critzer, University of Georgia; Stuart Reitz, OSU; and Tim Waters, Washington State University (WSU).Prior research by the team demonstrated that contaminated water used in drip irrigation results in limited contamination and that standard field curing practices work to further reduce
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By Joy Waite-Cusic, Associate Professor of Food Safety Systems, Oregon State University 93925 Chualar, CA 93925
10 Onion World • September / October 2022
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E. coli
Researchers are studying contamination rates risks associated with overhead irrigation in yellow onions at the Washington State University experiment station in Pasco, Washington.
Salmonella outbreaks? Field trials
Photo courtesy Tim Waters, Washington State University
OnionWorld.net 11 at the WSU experiment station in Pasco, Washington.InlateAugust, Waite-Cusic’s lab group traveled to both field sites and inoculated water with generic E. coli strains at 1001,000 CFU/100 ml for use in each type of water application. Onion contamination rates and levels of E. coli on and/or in onions will be monitored from the initial water application throughout the curing period. The final data from the 2022 growing season should be collected by the end of September.
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Results from the 2022 field trial will be shared at the Pacific Northwest Vegetable Association annual meeting in Kennewick, Washington, in November 2022, at the Idaho-Malheur County Onion Growers meeting in Ontario, Oregon, in February 2023, and at the Center for Produce Safety annual meeting in Buckhead, Georgia, in June 2023. A second trial is planned for the 2023 growing season to determine if the risk is comparable under varying weather conditions.
risk. There has been very little research on risks associated with other types of water application. Harris and WaiteCusic recently published the results from 2014 and 2015 field trials in California mimicking the use of contaminated water in a late-season pesticide application in the Journal of Food Protection. In 80 percent of the samples, E. coli were shown to die off during field curing, but in 7.5 percent of the test onions, E. coli increased over 1,000-fold from 1,000 CFU to >1,000,000 CFU per onion bulb. After the recent outbreaks, the research team spoke with growers and packing facilities to learn more about industry practices. Using the combined information from the industry, prior research and collective knowledge, the team decided that there were a lot of unanswered questions around how bacteria may behave when introduced during late-season water applications.
Coming in the next issue of ONIONWORLD Annual Buyers’ Guide Don’t miss this issue! Subscibe today onionworld.net/subscribeat:
Field Trials This spring, experiment station fields in eastern Oregon and south-central Washington were planted to support the research. Risks associated with late-season pesticide sprays and clay applications (sun damage protection) will be studied on white and red onions grown at the OSU experiment station in Ontario, Oregon. Contamination rates and risks associated with overhead irrigation will be studied in yellow onions
To support strong science-based food safety practices for the onion industry, the research team proposed a series of field trials to the Center for Produce Safety (CPS). Their proposal was selected for funding by a joint award from CPS and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) through the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.
DOnionisease Quiz
This material is provided courtesy of Tim Miller, an undergraduate research assistant, and Claudia Nischwitz, an associate professor and plant pathology specialist, at Utah State University. the problem is crucial to
12 Onion World • September / October 2022
Many diseases can affect an onion crop. Correctly identifying
choosing the proper solution. What is wrong with these onions? Answers on page 13 BA
OnionWorld.net 13
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Infected roots turn yellow, then pinkish, and can become dark purple as they disintegrate (Photo A). New roots that form after infection are short lived. Infected plants are small, drought stressed and display symptoms of nutrient stress due to the destruction of root tissues needed for absorption of minerals (Photo B). Plants that are infected at the seedling stage may die, while surviving plants are too stunted to be marketable.
The best way to manage the disease is the use of resistant varieties in fields with a known history of pink root problems. However, resistance can vary based on the strain of Phoma terrestris present in a field. Local seed providers may recommend varieties that work best in your area. Another option is to use chloropicrin or metam sodium to fumigate the soil, which can limit yield losses; however, this option is not always cost effective. A three- to six-year rotation with a nonhost crop can keep the incidence of pink root low.
The onion is infected with the fungus Phoma terrestris, and the common name for the disease is pink root. This fungus is a soil-borne pathogen that can reside in the soil for long periods of time and only affects the roots. It is a weak pathogen on most plant species but is more aggressive on onion and can cause significant losses.
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Disinfecting Services has its own line of post-harvest chemical products. Harvest 6.0 is one of the strongest disinfectants labeled for onions and other produce. Bio Ultra is a high-foaming detergent designed to penetrate into heavily contaminated surfaces and break down contaminants from storage walls. Growers’ Shield is a soil treatment that when combined with Harvest 6.0 moves deeper into the surface to disinfect floors. Cell Guard is used to improve airflow by cleaning and maintaining open-air passages in humidification systems, increasing the life of the media.
14 Onion World • September / October 2022 Storage
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Riley retired from Snake River Produce Company as general manager on June 1. Riley and four onion growers founded the company in Nyssa, Oregon, in 1999.
Kay Riley, a familiar face in the onion industry for 43 years, has traded in the packing shed for the golf course.
With…
René Emch Senior Product Specialist Pacific r.emch@enzazaden.com657-276-1021NorthWest
16 Onion World • September / October 2022
Five Minutes
GROWING BETTER PARTNERSHIPS
Riley’s resume also includes a term as president of the National Onion Association and involvement with the Idaho-Oregon Fruit and Vegetable Association.
Let’s talk about some changes in your 43 years in the onion business. It’s been dramatic, of course, over a 43-year period. Back when I first started in onion production, very little of the harvest was done mechanically; virtually all of it is done mechanically now. Many of the onions were hand-topped and put in windrows by people, and there were armies of fieldworkers that topped the onions into burlap bags or into windrows. And they stored onions in sacks or bins. On the production side, in 1979, there was a lot less production. The growing practices have increased dramatically, and we have much higher yields today than we had back in those days. Tell us about one big success you had in your career. Being involved in the National Onion Association when FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act) was passed, the water rule came out that said that if you exceeded the recreational water quality standard, which is around 125 parts per million of E. coli, you either
Todd Rehrman Area Sales Manager West t.rehrman@enzazaden.com209-226-5725Coast
Kay Riley, Retired General Manager, Snake River Produce Company
Onion World caught up with Riley in his first few weeks of retirement to learn about his past career and future plans.
Kay Riley (left), retired general manager of Snake River Produce Company, receives a Lifetime Achievement Award from Greg Yielding, National Onion Association (NOA) executive vice president, at the 2022 NOA summer convention.
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What’s on your bucket list? I’ve enjoyed life as I’ve gone through life. One of the things I do is go fishing in Alaska every year. So that was once on my bucket list, but it’s still my bucket list. I want to travel more and see family. I have a son in Boston and a daughter in Jacksonville, Florida, a son in Utah and a daughter in Star, Idaho. I would like to spend a little more time with them. How do you personally define success, and have you achieved it in your life? I feel successful in that I think Snake River Produce proved to be very successful. I had initially four very high quality individuals as partners, and we formed an organization that was profitable for them and for me. We’ve expanded and changed in time and the partners have changed. But to associate with good people and to be able to hold your head up high, I’m far from being rich, but I’m rich enough. What is your personal mantra or motto? I would like to be as good a person as my father was. I say I would like to be, which is a process that is ongoing. But he was kind and wise and led. I’ve never really thought about having a mantra, but I have thought of following the example of his and other people’s leadership. Palletize & autofill leno bags in no time
OnionWorld.net 17 had to treat your water or quit using it. Of course, we’re in a dry, arid desert community, and often our water exceeds that recreational water quality. So we went to work, and we were very active in conjunction with the National Onion Association and the Idaho-Eastern Oregon Onion Committee, which did research, and the Idaho-Oregon Fruit and Vegetable Association. We attended hearings with the FDA, we made comments, and eventually even had the deputy director of the FDA here for a tour and taught him how to set siphon tubes. Ultimately, we got them to rescind the original water rule and reconsider it. And still after 12 years now, they still haven’t finalized the water rule. But nevertheless, through all that, we have not had issues with onions in the past, and they’ve come to accept that through cultural practices, our irrigation water is safe to use.
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To hear more of Riley’s reflections, check out Episode 19 of TheOnionPodcast.com.
What’s your best advice for growers today? I would like to see us plunge less as far as being more consistent in production. Last year, we had a very good marketing year. That was a result of terrible weather and a lot of poor crop circumstances. I think if we were a little more disciplined in the amount that we try to produce, we could probably assure ourselves of better marketing conditions every year. I can’t really blame people, but when we dive in and plant more than we have a marketing plan for, then we have overproduction and everybody suffers as a result of that.
“They’re trying to make it as small as possible and light as possible so one person could lift it up and put it in the back of a pickup,” Neufeld said. Ryu said the robots could provide an answer to farmers who have been unable to find enough field workers for tasks such as weeding. He believes new technology will play an increasingly important role in addressing the farm labor shortage. In the near future, he expects drones will be spraying fields now treated by crop duster pilots.
crops: onions and sugar beets.
Ryu said the robot could also fill a niche by providing weed control on organic farms.
Test Drive
“Maybe over the next few decades, we’re going to see a lot of this kind of autonomous vehicle everywhere,” Ryu said. “Technology is improving so fast these days. We have to accept this technology to make our life easier.”
Researchers
University of Idaho Researchers Helping Develop Solar-Powered Weeding Robot from the University of Idaho are partnering with a Washington company to develop a solar-powered robot that will rove autonomously through fields Jae Ryu, an associate professor in the Department of Soil and Water Systems, and Jerry Neufeld, an Extension crops educator, are collecting data in Idaho farm fields to help the robot differentiate between weeds and two of the state’s major
18 Onion World • September / October 2022
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All planters are assembled and tested at our plant in Chino, California, to insure accuracy. Ad farm fields before crop canopies close. A small arm will grasp and pull small weeds; the robot will emit an electric shock to fry the larger weeds.
“This is also very beneficial for environmental ecosystems,” Ryu said.
Jae Ryu, an associate professor at the University of Idaho, collects data in a field to help an autonomous robot differentiate between weeds and sugar beet or onion crops.
The company behind the project, Aigen, based in Kirkland, Washington, hopes to have a prototype of the robot finished by late summer. It will be adapted for robot
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Photo courtesy Jae Ryu, University of Idaho
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Pacific Northwest Association Conference Trade Show Rivers Convention Center Wash. Sheri Nolan, (509) 585-5460 or www.pnva.org 6-8 Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market EXPO Place Conference Center Grand Rapids, Mich. www.glexpo.com National Onion Association Annual Convention Omni Scottsdale Resort Spa at Montelucia Scottsdale, Editor’swww.onions-usa.orgAriz.note:Tohave at columbiamediagroup.com.
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The researchers are uncertain how much each robot unit will cost to build or how much ground an individual robot will be capable of covering in a set amount of Ryutime.has applied for a grant to fund development of a similar autonomous robot that would take the field photographs in lieu of manually pushing a cart. If the grant is funded, that robot could also be used for some of his additional research involving drones. One of those projects entails flying a drone with multispectral sensors to detect the presence of wireworms in wheat fields. Ryu has also researched using multispectral sensors to identify early symptoms of pink root disease in onions.
OnionWorld.net 19 “Farmers are going to reduce their chemical applications.” Since April, Ryu and Neufeld have gone into onion and sugar beet fields every five days, weather permitting, to take photos of weeds. They manually push a cart fitted with an accelerometer to take two photographs of the ground per second while the cart is in motion. Aigen uploads the photos to build the database the robot will use to tell the difference between weeds and crops.
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Kennewick,
Farming equipment manufacturer Nicholson Machinery celebrated its 50th anniversary in June. The England-based company designs and manufactures harvesting and processing equipment. Founded in 1972 by David Nicholson, the company remains a family-run business and exports around 65 percent of its products. Nicholson continues to be best known for its original product: the Onion Top-Tailer.
Sakata Seed America has initiated plans to relocate its headquarters, including all operations and personnel functions, to its 219-acre site in Woodland, California, by late 2024. The company has been operating its North American headquarters in Morgan Hill, California, since 1988. The planned relocation to the Woodland Innovation Center will follow the second phase of an infrastructure expansion project there. The Woodland facility opened in 2018, when phase one of the building project was completed. This phase featured 16 acres of operational facilities, including greenhouses and a 25,000-square-foot warehouse with the latest technology in seed processing equipment. The Woodland site also has ample farmland to host Sakata’s annual California Field Days event and serve as a permanent trialing location for the company’s breeding programs and research and development department.
Nicholson Machinery Celebrates 50 Years
NEVER MISS AN SUBSCRIBEISSUE!ATOnionWorld.netorcall503-724-3581 WORLDONION IN THE NEWS
20 Onion World • September / October 2022
Sakata Seed America Plans to Relocate Headquarters
Ethan Stanley has joined Stokes Seeds as the territory manager for Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. As one of the company’s 25 territory managers, Stanley will be responsible for seed and service to growers in the region. He will provide commercial vegetable seed recommendations and collaborate with growers to match seed options to their production and profit goals. Stanley has a bachelor’s degree in agricultural business management from North Carolina State University and experience in seed, grain, crop protection and ag financing.
Vegetable equipment manufacturer Tong Engineering has opened its new manufacturing facility in England after a three-year, two-phase construction project.
Sakata Seed America Appoints R&D Director Sakata Seed America has appointed Bill McCarthy as director of research and stationscompany’sactivityandvegetableSeedforwill(R&D).developmentMcCarthyberesponsibleallofSakataAmerica’sresearchdevelopmentattheR&DinBurlington, Washington; Woodland and Salinas, California; Fort Myers, Florida, and Culiacan, Mexico. McCarthy started his career at Sakata and rejoined the company in October 2020. He previously led other companies’ hot pepper and sweet pepper R&D programs, creating over 45 commercial pepper hybrids for open field and protected culture in the U.S. and abroad. McCarthy has a doctorate degree in horticulture and plant genetics from North Carolina State University. He will be based at Sakata’s Woodland Innovation Center in California.
Stokes Seeds Adds Territory Manager
OnionWorld.net 21
Tong Engineering Builds New Facility
The 90,000-square-foot factory includes new shot-blast, paint-spraying and powdercoating facilities, as well as high-speed fiber laser-cutting facilities to cut mild and stainless steel. In addition, the factory houses metal-preparation, fabrication and final-assembly departments, plus an area to store over 40 tons of spare parts and components.Thenewfacility, made up of three buildings, occupies a 7-acre site. It replaces the company’s former facility, located in the same town, which it utilized for almost 90 years.Tong manufactures vegetable handling equipment for a range of vegetables including carrots, onions and potatoes.
Nature’s Ninja Is Ready To Put the Skills In Your Marketing Program
The NOA has membership throughout the country selling all kinds of great onions, from Vidalia to Walla Walla to Texas and Idaho/Eastern Oregon. You may have heard this before: it was an onion first. And frankly, not all onion growers and packers have their own marketing programs.That’sin part why we created Nature’s Ninja: to represent all onions.
• Master of disguise — From the outside, the onion seems unassuming and simple. But there’s a warrior inside ready to fight disease.
We have ninja dolls and ninja lapel pins for giveaways (at a small cost), and with proper notice, we can order more in bulk. That’s a far cry from spending hundreds of thousands each year for marketing services. You also would be free to use Nature’s Ninja in your social media messaging; we have many ready-made Facebook and Instagram posts.
That’s
The program is a way to market onions — mostly the unbranded ones — with a fun, colorful character that can reach younger buyers who perhaps know nothing about the many ninja skills the onion has. The program allows NOA members to use Nature’s Ninja on their wineglass labels, with a small percentage of the costs going back to the NOA marketing program. We offer it to members only, who use NOA members to produce their labels. The cost is $250 per year and certification that your organization adheres to food safety guidelines.Ifyouthink about it, it’s a pretty easy and not-so-expensive way to get some marketing into your onion program. We have a special website, www.naturesninja. org, with recipes for each type of onion, nutrition information, blog posts and trivia to which the labels can drive traffic.
• Resourceful — Onions have many properties to keep those who eat it healthy. While it helps sustain a healthy gut, it can also help your mental health. Have you have a good cry lately?
22 Onion World • September / October 2022 American Takii ..................3 Bejo FoxEnzaClearwaterChinook................................15Equipment........13Supply..........20Zaden.....................16Packaging.................19 Fox Solutions ..................17 Gearmore .......................18 Gowan Seed ...................10 L&M ................................12 NOA ..................................8 Noffsinger .......................21 Nunhems ........................20 PNVA SeedwayRedwood.................................9Empire............19...........................7 Teleos Ag ........................23 TheOnionPodcast.comSponsoredbyNovasource .13 Vegetables by Bayer .......24 Verbruggen .....................11 Advertiser Index
FROM THE NOA
• Stealthy — Who hasn’t minced an onion to slip into a recipe without being noticed? We know chefs who turn onions into a puree to add the right amount of flavor to their dishes.
Onion consumption per capita has been hovering around 20 pounds per year for the last several years. Isn’t it about time to move the needle? If you’d like to take advantage of this program but you’re not an NOA member, signing up is easy. Our membership prices are some of the lowest in the country among associations and lobbying organizations. You can find all the information you need on membership at membership.www.onions-usa.org/members/Orfeelfreetocallthe office at (970) 353-5895.
But while your brand may mean quality, or nutrition, or safety, or uniqueness, the onion will always be the onion to buyers. Many don’t know one brand from another, or the many qualities an onion can bring into their overall health or cooking. They just know they either like onions or they don’t. why we at the National Onion Association (NOA) have been working to market the onion — all onions — as nutritious, body-building, immunityboosting, flavor-enhancing goodness through Nature’s Ninja for the last four years.The concept of Nature’s Ninja is simple. Ninjas have skills. And when you think of the onion, the onion has skills – just like a ninja:•Survivor — From its hard, papery skin keeping bacteria at bay to its pungent juices preserving itself, the onion was built to survive the elements.
The onion industry has endured decades without a mascot or theme to really impress new buyers. For many onion marketers out there, the big concern is about the brand, and rightly so.
The NOA now has created its Nature’s Ninja Marketing Program, which allows our membership to use our trademarked Nature’s Ninja in their marketing messages of all kinds, as well as packaging.
• Adaptable — It can tempt the taste buds in a variety of forms to create just the right mixture of tastes to add the perfect touch to your meals.
TELONE™ II is the premiere preplant soil fumigant for managing the major species of nematodes that negatively impact onion production, including stubby-root, root-knot, lesion, stem & bulb, as well as pesky wire worms. By applying TELONE™ before planting, you create a zone of protection around delicate developing root systems, leading to healthier plants and higher yields. A custom blend of TELONE™ and Chloropicrin can also help combat soil borne diseases such as pink root, for an effective all-in-one preplant solution for your onions.
LET US HANDLE THE NEMATODES SO YOU CAN HANDLE EVERYTHING ELSE.
Contact your TELONE™ Specialist or Authorized TELONE™ distributor for more information on how TELONE™ or a TELONE™/Chloropicrin blend can set you up for a successful onion season.
Remember, there's no coming back from a poor start!
TELONE™ is a Trademark of the Dow Chemical Company (“Dow”) or an affiliated company of Dow, used under license. TELONE™ is a federally Restricted Use Pesticide. Always read and follow label directions.
www.TeleosAg.com
