John Shuman, president and CEO at Shuman Farms released the following statement in regards to the 2019 Shuman Farms Vidalia Onion crop.
“As we begin harvesting, we’re cautiously optimistic about the upcoming Vidalia season. Although yields are lower than previous years, quality looks good at this point.
We’ve been saying that the front-end of the crop looks better than the back-end, and that certainly seems to be the case at this time. Our caution comes from recognizing the fact that as an industry, Vidalia starts the season 17 percent down in total acreage. Combine this with a national onion shortage, and our hope for good supplies this summer hinge on Vidalia’s late season yields.
With industry concerns about the late crop coming from several key factors, it’s a wait and see attitude right now. It has been my experience, that any shortage of Vidalia supply will be felt more so during the summer storage season and not so much in May. With this in mind, we are keeping a close eye on our late season varieties to see how the summer storage season will unfold.
The market remains steady and demand continues to be good. Shuman Farms began shipping USA Georgia grown sweet onions this week with plans to transition to Vidalia Sweet Onions this Monday, April 22.”
