G&R Farms' Steven Shuman Talks Current Vidalia® Onion Market Outlook
GLENNVILLE, GA - Every time I go to the grocery store, I’m picking up an onion—or three. Most recipes call for onions as the foundation to a dish; it’s a critical part of the produce department for a reason. Due to their household staple status, knowing the ins and outs of the onion market is important for anyone building out their retail sets. To keep me in the loop, I spoke with G&R Farms’ Vice President of Sales Steven Shuman.
“We have completed the harvest and have all product in-house with about a week of work to finish sizing and move everything to storage. Fresh season was winding down as we approached Memorial Day, and we will begin pulling the early storage crop to pack and ship starting June 1,” he told me. “Fresh season quality has been very good, and we feel confident that some of our best quality onions will come out of storage for the remainder of the season.”
Steven went on to note that G&R was blessed to have really good yields and solid quality this year, which should result in a normal season, including end dates.
“We had very good weather for most of the harvest season, so that allowed us to get our crop out of the fields in a timely manner and maintain good quality for both fresh shipments and going into storage,” Steven continued.
The current market for Vidalia® sweet onions is currently steady, with normal movement expected throughout the remainder of the season.
“Pricing has remained steady since the beginning of the season, but I do anticipate it climbing higher as we move through the storage season. This increase will be driven by less volume as we get deeper into the storage season and many growers in the Vidalia region begin to finish earlier than normal,” he noted.
Steven explained to me that G&R Farms is confident about the crop in storage and that it will be able to carry the company well into the summer months.
“We have hopes that we’ll still have Vidalias going into August. There will obviously be more updates provided as we navigate through our storage crop, and we can determine that quality and volume remain strong to lengthen our season,” he shared.
We’ll continue to keep an eye on any market changes, so keep reading AndNowUKnow for the latest.
