If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then the Cowart family of Lyons, Georgia has plenty of reason to beam with pride. Since the early 1980s, Cowart Farms of Lyons, Georgia has built a reputation for innovative practices in the development, growing and handling Vidalia Sweets™ onions. Over the years, the Cowart family has continuously introduced new ideas that have taken the production of sweet onions to new levels. At the time, many of these ideas seemed contrary to conventional wisdom or even revolutionary to other Georgia onion farmers.
The ideas that Cowart Farms pioneered didn’t just grow a better onion. They also grew a stronger, more resilient business that could change with the times and adapt to evolving market conditions. Usually, after the Cowart family would step across the line with a new idea, other growers eventually followed. Many of the innovations pioneered by the Cowart family have since become industry standards. Ultimately, it’s been consumers nationwide who have enjoyed the sweetest benefits from changes brought about by Cowart Farms.
Always Testing, Analyzing, Adapting and Improving
“Our philosophy has always been change for the better,” said Anthony Cowart, who runs the family businesses alongside his brother Jimmy and father (and family business patriarch) Jim Paul. “We approach farming as you would any business. We test. We try new things. We analyze. Then we take what we’ve learned, and use it to
improve. The process never stops, because there are always new ways to get better at what we do,” explained Anthony.
This commitment can be seen in many improvements the family has made in the ways it grows and handles their product. For example, back in the 1980s it was traditional for labor in the fields to put onions into field bags, which were then hauled into the drying shed and dumped into drying bins. Cowart changed this process for the better by using a bag loader in the field, allowing four men in the field to load bags onto a conveyor, which carried them directly to a drying wagon. Cowart’s sweet onions no longer had to be stacked in bags on a truck and then re-dumped —by hand — for drying. This change saved time, saved labor, and most importantly, prevented unnecessary handling and bruising of the product.
Later in the 90s, the Cowart family was among the first Vidalia onion growers to utilize mechanical harvesters. Although the high moisture content of Vidalia onions still dictates the need for hand harvesting the majority of the crop, dryer and more mature onions can be efficiently harvested by machine. “We always plan to use the best practices for given conditions,” Anthony said. When conditions permit, the Cowarts use advanced Top Air Harvesters to lift and cut the tops of the onions and load them onto conveyors, saving substantial time and labor.
Anthony foresees a day when these savings of time and money will be further increased with more mechanical harvesting. “ We’re not there yet, but we’re getting closer to the day when we’ll have all mechanical harvesting. We’re working on ideas for machinery that won’t damage the product when the onions and the ground are moist,” he said.
To ensure the best possible product is delivered to customers, the Cowart family has improved the way it handles and processes its sweet onions. Cowart Farms operates its own packing shed and has controlled atmosphere storage and drying rooms to dry the crop over a five-week period. Providing a consistent low humidity environment with moving air is a priority, so last season the family built and installed an under floor drying-curing system with air duct ventilation that comes up through the floor. Cowart Farm’s Vented Floor Drying System allows the family to dry 12,000 units (50-lb. equivalent) in each of four vented drying rooms. Or put another way, roughly 50,000 units over a four-day period. Investing in this manner to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the drying process shows that Cowart Farms is committed to building a better business model — and a better onion, as well.
“Greener” Process Creates a Sweeter Onion
Cowart Farms’ drive for constant improvement goes beyond equipment, processes or even the bottom line. It extends right to the sweet flesh of the onions themselves. The Cowart family was the first to encourage onion pungency and sugar level testing, in an effort to differentiate its Sugarsweets™ brand of sweet onions from others on the market. Others in the business resisted this idea at first, but it was clear the industry needed to help consumers understand what a sweet onion was. The idea eventually caught on and testing is now more widespread among Georgia growers. Not surprisingly, Cowart Farms became the first to test 100-percent of its crop. Each acre of onions is tested and, depending on the pungency and sugar level standards the family helped developed, Cowart Farms’ onions are rated as Extra Sweet, Sweet or N/A.
This testing is used not only to validate what the Cowarts do, but also to provide a benchmark for improving the product. “For nine or 10 years now, we’ve been on a mission to ‘keep ‘em sweet and make ‘em sweeter’,” said Anthony. When asked specifically what makes an onion sweet, Anthony explained, “Georgia onions grow sweet on our loamy, sandy soil, lots of water and monitoring their fertility —what the plant eats. We provide specialized care and feeding and carefully test and monitor the process throughout the growing cycle to ensure the best possible end product,” Anthony added.
Soil testing is nothing new under the Georgia sun, but Cowart Farms takes extraordinary steps to ensure that each portion of the crop gets precisely what it needs to produce the sweetest possible onions. This year’s 630 acres were painstakingly mapped, broken into grids using GPS satellite technology and sampled. Using this data, the Cowart family develops specific recommendations on the best feeding and watering plans for each small area. “We develop a prescription map for each part of the field, telling us what type of fertilizer to apply, how much and where it’s needed to replace nutrients in the soil,” said Anthony. With tractors self-guided by GPS satellite coordinates working the field and onboard computers precisely controlling the mixture, they can be sure that they don’t over or under apply.
This same detailed, grid-mapped soil analysis ensures that water is applied precisely and correctly, “It’s a given that it takes a lot of water to work a sweet onion,” said Anthony. So finding the “right amount” and fine-tuning to suit environmental conditions is important to both the product and the bottom line.
These close fertility/watering controls provide the Cowart family with several advantages. They combine to create a better, sweeter onion, of course. However, they are also better for the environment. “Our process is ‘greener,” because we’re not applying the same level of nitrates everywhere around the field. We provide each mapped area with a carefully selected level of fertility,” Anthony added.
The family takes the same detailed approach to pest and weed control, scouting the crop weekly or even daily when needed to look for pests, weeds and other issues that need addressing. Instead of the traditional practice of applying treatments on a predetermined schedule, the Cowart family investigates, analyzes and corrects individual problems as needed. Again, this is better for the crop, better for the environment and better for the business.
New Program Measures Flavor Compounds That Consumers Taste
Keystone and Cowart are really excited to be participating in NOL’s new Pungency Plus™ flavor certification program for onions and what this does for us as a grower and a marketer.
With the Pungency Plus™ program NOL is refining its testing protocols to directly measure the flavor compounds which consumers TASTE. This program will help growers, distributors and retailers provide consumers a better tasting (sweet) onion.
The industry standard for evaluating pungency, the Pyruvic Acid test, does not directly measure the compounds which consumers taste. When testing traditional Granex type onions the Pyruvic Acid test works very well with general acceptance of a limit around the 5.0 to 5.3 level for a sweet onion.
In the last 10 years many new varieties have been introduced which develop flavors that the pungency test does not adequately measure. In some cases one can obtain low Pyruvic Acid numbers but have onions with strong and often unpleasant flavors. The Pungency Plus™ program addresses these limitations by measuring and reporting the full consumer taste experience of Heat, Flavor Strength, After-Taste and Sweetness.
“Good Enough” Is Never Good Enough
According to Anthony, all these things combine to help the Cowart family minimize controllable costs and better manage risk. For example, one particular fertilizer they apply increased 300-percent in price from last year to this year. The fact that Cowart Farms puts such an emphasis on perfecting the “where”, “when” and “how much” of application puts the company in a better position to weather this increase.
Looking ahead, Anthony predicts these types of cost controls will be even more important in the future. “Risk management is critical in farming today, and it’s going to play an even bigger role in this tough economy,” he said. Over the past several years, there has been a steady drop in the number of registered Vidalia Sweets growers in Georgia, as well as the number of acres dedicated to the crop. This development doesn’t surprise the Cowart family. “Ten or 15 years ago, the potential gain was a lot bigger than the risk,” remarked Anthony. Farmers jumped on the sweet onion bandwagon, but some weren’t prepared to adapt to the changing times and business climate. As a result, many have moved on.
Cowart Farms, on the other hand, has been enjoying sweet success and consistent growth for nearly three decades.. It easy to trace this success back to the family’s “roots” — a willingness to try new ideas and business like approach to farming. One gets the feeling that “good enough” is not something often heard around the Cowart family table, at least when they’re discussing their product or their business.
Consistent success and growth like this requires an intangible quality to go along with the high level of commitment and pride the Cowarts obviously possess. There’s also a family-wide appreciation — one might even call it a love — for the sweet onions they cultivate and pull from the Georgia soil.
“Doing this really gets under your skin. You watch over your field, give the Earth precisely what it needs, and its gives you back an amazing sweet onion,” said Anthony. With this year’s excellent crop ready for market, hungry consumers across the nation — burgers at the ready— undoubtedly agree.
Source: Cowart Farms
