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By Greg Bird, Executive Director, Michigan Onion Committee
If you follow onions, you probably know that the Midwest had good onion prices for most of the 2023 crop. The lack of onions from south of the border allowed for the prices to remain high. 2023 saw some significant onion crop losses in Michigan. The east side of the state was hit hardest in several events. One event flooded the Detroit Metro Airport. The other event saw several feet of rain over a month’s time. USDA declared some counties a disaster for certain specialty crops. Some farms had insurance claims, and others managed to receive some disaster funding loans from USDA.
The 2024 crop has seen good weather and bad weather. While there will probably be no catastrophic losses, temperatures in the low 20s in the middle of April affected some stands, and minor flooding has affected a few others. Some extreme temperatures and high humidity got the weeds going strong in June. There is some laser weeding being done here in Michigan.
A weed the onion industry is struggling with is white campion. White campion is the latest weed that has become very prevalent in some onion fields in Michigan. This weed can take over a field very quickly. The Michigan Onion Committee and others in the industry here have started a private trial to see what may or may not work to permanently get rid of white campion.
In addition, the excellent support system that is established in Michigan might just help increase onion acreage. It’s not an easy crop, but it takes less manual labor than other vegetables and if the prices stay high again, Michigan may see acreage increase in the future. It sounds like two new growers are working with USDA on financing and are hoping to come into onion production with 40-80 acres in the next year.
