On the heels of a successful season, the Vidalia Onion Committee (VOC) honored two familiar faces in the Georgia onion industry. Omar Cruz, an agronomist for Bland Farms, was named the 2018 Grower of the Year, and longtime onion grower R.T. Stanley was inducted into the Vidalia Onion Hall of Fame.
The two received their awards during the Vidalia Onion Committee 2018 awards banquet. More than 200 guests attended the annual event, which followed a strong production year in 2017.
“Our congratulations to Omar and R.T. on being selected to receive our industry’s top honors,” said Bob Stafford, interim executive director of the Vidalia Onion Committee. “We enjoyed one of our strongest seasons in 2017, and we are looking forward to a good harvest this year.”
Omar Cruz (left) accepts the Vidalia Onion Committee Grower of the Year award from Troy Bland, Vidalia Onion Committee chairman, and Bob Stafford, Vidalia Onion Committee manager. Photo courtesy Vidalia Onion Committee
Grower of the Year
Cruz, who earned a degree in agronomy from the University of Havana in Cuba, has been farming with Bland Farms in Tattnall County since 2005. He shares his vast knowledge with various Vidalia onion growers in the surrounding counties and has hosted numerous onion trials that have yielded valuable information to benefit the Vidalia industry, according to the VOC.
Hall of Fame
R.T. Stanley started farming in 1964 as a sharecropper with his uncle. A decade later, he established Stanley Farms with his father. In the late 1970s, Stanley Farms began growing Vidalia onions on its first five acres. This small acreage later grew to more than 1,000 acres.
One of the industry’s most influential growers, according to the VOC, Stanley has hosted many onion events over the years, including a gathering of the National Onion Association.
He considers himself fortunate that all three of his sons, Brian, Tracy and Vince, returned to Toombs County to be part of Stanley Farms after graduating from the University of Georgia.
