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Northwest Farm Credit Services’ 12-month profitability outlook calls for “slightly profitable onion returns.” Producers with high quality, large onions will have favorable returns, while producers with smaller onions will face headwinds, according to the quarterly Market Snapshot report released in October. The drivers behind this prediction include increased production costs due to rising input prices, as well as reduced onion yield and size profile due to extreme heat, especially in the Northwest.
Onion shipments from Idaho and Oregon are down 37 percent, and shipments from the Columbia Basin are down 7 percent. Similarly, shipments from the San Joaquin Valley are down 12 percent. Georgia and New Mexico are the only two production regions with increased shipments to date, up 41 percent and 5 percent, respectively. However, prices suggest the shortages in the Northwest outweigh both increasing shipments from Georgia and New Mexico and imports from Mexico, Peru and Canada.
