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By René Hardwick, National Onion Association Director of Public and Industry Relations
This new year is sooo welcome.
We thought the pandemic was rough!
Then 2021 happened.
In addition to continuing issues with COVID-19, we had a shipping crisis and issues with a lack of available trucking, a ban on chlorpyrifos, labor issues, price hikes on inputs and implements, a potential dissolution of the South Texas Onion Committee and another round of salmonella plaguing consumer confidence in onions.
Issues like these are not only annoying, and prompt several fist shakings up to the sky, but they’re also times to look within. If you look within the National Onion Association (NOA), you’ll see a group of dedicated onion folk – farmers, seed dealers, equipment dealers, packaging dealers and more – standing firm, standing up for all onion growers.
What you may not see is the dedication all in the NOA, and its leadership, have toward keeping the onion industry moving in the right direction. There’s a lot of politics out there, and onion industry folk are no stranger to it.
In the last two years, the NOA has had the strongest contingent yet of members traveling to Washington D.C. to make a dent in industry issues with their legislators and agriculture policymakers. These are people whose eyes opened to the difference they could make by taking an interest and reaching out to effect change in policy and the regulatory landscape.
The NOA leadership particularly look out for issues that will affect the onion industry and work to advocate for sound change and fight against bad policy.
The NOA was on the front lines last year to work on shipping issues with the Agriculture Transportation Coalition.
The NOA continues to fight for the continued operations of the South Texas Onion Committee marketing order, which if dismantled, could affect the entire American onion industry with lowered prices and quality from imported onions a good three months of the year.
NOA leaders are working hard to manage and issue best practices guidelines to ensure that onions remain free of foodborne illness created by poor, unmonitored conditions. They’ll continue to work on upgrading the document in the coming months and ensure that all imports are subject to the same inspection criteria demanded of the domestic market.
As the NOA moves through 2022, you can bet its leaders will be hard at work on several ongoing issues. That’s where you can come in.
If you haven’t been a member of the NOA in a while, dip your toe back in. Get involved, help onion industry leadership remain strong, and commit to a turn in leadership, or go to Washington D.C. with us and be a part of solutions.
If you have no idea what the NOA is, try us out. We bring people together twice a year for conventions and networking and discussions on important industry topics. Representing American onion growers for more than 100 years is no joke, and our leadership takes it seriously.
We’ll be in Boise, Idaho, July 6-9 for our summer convention. Join us and see what we’re all about. If you’re not a member, find a member to sponsor you.
