Onion shipments from the Northwest will be cranking up soon and produce truckers should use caution if you plan to haul this product. Excessive heat during the growing season has adversely affected quality of at least a small portion of the crop.
Arrow in photo points to yellow spot virus. Very light shipments of of Northwest onions actually started in mid July, but for the most part loadings of any significant volume will be coming in the next few weeks.
It already has been reported some onion fields in the Pacific Northwest are showing signs of stress because of excessive heat earlier in the summer. However, farmers are still saying the overall the crop looks good.
The initial shipment of reds and yellows for the 2013 season got underway last week.
Columbia River area onions are said to have tolerated the hot weather thus far, and with the eternal optimisim only seen in farmers, they still believe there will be plenty of loads availabe, not only for fresh onions, but from storage this year.
A similar situation is seen from onion fields in the Snake River area, which are showing a little stress from near-record high temperatures. In the Treasure Valley, there are already reports of some Irish yellow spot virus, but growrs are playing it down as not being serious.
Irish Yellow Spot Virus is a damaging viral pathogen of onions. The disease can devastate an onion field by destroying the photosynthetic area of the leaves of infected plants, thus reducing the ability of the plant to develop bulb size and directly affecting yield and grade of onions at harvest. Infected onions can overwinter and harbor the disease from one season to the next and serve as a reservoir of disease the following season (see photograph).
Northwest onions grossing about $4300 to Dallas.