Posts Tagged “Columbia Basin potato shipments”
Average volume for onion shipments are expected this season from the Columbia Basin, as well as from Treasure Valley, according to extension personnel at Washington State University and Oregon State University.
With total acreage virtually unchanged from a year ago, yellow onions account for about 80% of total onion acreage. Red onions now account for 15% of total Columbia Basin onion acreage, with white onions totaling about 5%.
Columbia Basin’s early onion harvest will likely start in early August, with storage onions beginning at the end of August or early September. Onions will be harvested and put in storage through September and into October.
Most of Washington’s storage onions are grown in the Columbia Basin, with the majority planted in Grant, Franklin and Adams counties.
Onion acreage in the Columbia Basin shared by Oregon and Washington totals about 25,000 acres. Onion harvest begins in the region begins in the late summer and can extend into the fall. Storage onions can be marketed from storage for up to eight months.
Storage onion acreage in the eastern part of Oregon and southwest Idaho, called the Treasure Valley region, accounts for about 20,000 to 25,000 acres.
Many onions in the Treasure Valley will be shipped to the East, while many of the Columbia Basin onions will move north and south, as well as to export markets.
Washington produce shipments play an integral part of the Evergreen state’s economy.
The state has rich soils, abundant fresh water, low cost hydropower, a favorable climate and hard-working people. Washington farm lands grow more than 300 varieties of crops, which is second only to California in crop diversity, according to a recently published report by the Washington Policy Center (WPC) .
Farms accounts for 13 percent of the state’s GDP and employ more people than Microsoft and Boeing combined. Some 160,000 Washington jobs associated with agriculture. Agriculture accounts for $51 billion in Washington yearly economic activity.
Over 200 food processors are supported by Washington farmers.
The apple is still rules in Washington. Two-thirds of the apples shipped in the U.S., originate from Washington state. One interesting fact coming out of the report is if the number of apples picked in Washington last year were placed side-by-side, they would circle the earth 29 times. Every apple is hand-picked.
While neighboring Idaho leads the nation in potato shipments, Washington also has significant potato loadings. Between the two states, they account for 44 percent of the nation’s potato shipments. When you order fries at a restaurant, you are likely to be served potatoes processed in the central part of Washington state.
The Washington Potato Commission reports that 99 percent of Washington potato farms are family businesses whose owners have deep roots in their communities.
Trucks move an estimated $42 million of freight on roadways in Washington state every hour of every day, yet many of them idle in traffic. The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) estimated traffic bottlenecks cost truckers $49.6 billion in 2014.
While the state has a prosperous agriculture sector, the Washington Policy Center believes farm families, similar to those in trucking, feel the pressure of harmful legislation and regulations.
In 2013, the agriculture community faced nearly a billion dollars tax increases from legislation introduced in Olympia. That would be on top of the estimated $230 million farmers and agriculture-related businesses pay in property taxes annually.
Finally, farmers will feel the cost impacts of the governor’s proposed greenhouse gas rules which hit fertilizer makers and food processing facilities hard.
The report’s bottom line is agriculture must be given equal priority with high-tech, software, aerospace and biomedical research when the state’s leaders set tax, regulatory and economic policies.
Columbia Basin potato shipments – grossing about $3800 to Chicago.
Yakima Valley apple shipments – grossing about $6000 to New York City.