California is a big force in the U.S. onion market.
According to a report from University of California, Davis, California is the largest onion producer (including fresh and processed) in the U.S. and is the only state to produce both spring and summer-harvested onions.
In 2015, the report said California produced 31% of the nation’s total onion crop.
About 16% of California onions are spring harvested, and the state produces 42% of the nation’s spring harvested onion crop.
About half of California onions are grown for the fresh market, and about half for processing, according to the report.
The proportion of spring, summer, fresh and processing onions tends to be stable, according to the report.
Onions are grown throughout California.
In a recent census, the counties with the top onion acreage were Fresno, Imperial, Kern, Siskiyou, and San Joaquin, with over a third of the state’s acreage located in Fresno County, according to the report.
The high desert region of Antelope Valley in Los Angeles County and the Salinas Valley also include some fresh market onion acreage, the report said.
In 2020, truck onion shipments from California’s Central Valley totaled 339.9 million pounds, up 2% from 33 million pounds in 2019 and up 12% from 304.8 million pounds in 2015. Shipments were recorded in every month in 2020 from California’s Central Valley, with peak shipments in June, July and August.
In 2019, shipments of California’s Central Valley onion truck shipments accounted for 7.5% of total U.S. onion truck volume. That was up slightly from 7.4% in 2019 and down slightly from 7.7% of total U.S. onion truck shipments in 2015.
Truck onion shipments from California’s Imperial Valley totaled 144.9 million pounds in 2020, up 5% from 138 million pounds in 2019 and up 22% from 119.1 million pounds in 2015. May was the peak onion shipment month for California’s Imperial Valley, with shipments starting in May and ending in June.
In the season-to-date truck shipment report through May 15 this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported 66.8 million pounds shipped, down slightly from 68.1 million pounds the same time a year ago.
Imperial Valley onion shipments accounted for 3.2% of total U.S. onion truck shipments, up from 2.9% in 2019 and 3% in 2015.
Southern California’s onion truck shipments in 2020 totaled 16.1 million pounds, down 43% compared with 27.9 million pounds in 2019 and down 85% from 110.5 million pounds in 2015.
Truck shipments from the region were active from January through May, with peak shipments in January. Southern California onion truck shipments accounted for 0.3% of total U.S. onion truck shipments, down from 0.6% in 2019 and lower than 2.8% in 2015, according to the USDA.