A team of researchers from the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) is partnering with colleagues from Texas A&M University to find more effective production practices for organic onion growers in the southern United States where short-day onions — those that bulb with 11 to 12 hours of sunlight each day — are primarily grown.
Bhabesh Dutta, associate professor in the UGA Department of Plant Pathology at UGA is leading the team over the next four years through a recently funded $3.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture's Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative.
The project, referred to as “Onion IQ" (Improved Quality), is a collaborative effort between the two institutions to build an integrated approach with faculty from various departments and fields of expertise for improving the production and quality of organic onions.
The organic industry is the fastest-growing segment of U.S. agriculture, Dutta explained. According to the 2022 National Organic Survey, organic onion production has grown by 24% in the last two years, with an estimated value of $140 million in the U.S. Organic sales increased between 30 to 50% in both Georgia and Texas in the same time period, the survey shows.
A UGA Cooperative Extension vegetable disease specialist, Dutta said one of the major challenges with organic onion production is the incidence of two detrimental diseases — sour skin and slippery skin — caused by a group of soilborne bacteria commonly found throughout the U.S.
Bacterial rots cause nearly 4 to 8% of annual losses in total yield, which accounts for approximately $12 to 20 million dollars for both organic and conventional crops, with losses in organic onion much more pronounced.
One of the primary goals of the research is to find organic methods to successfully manage these problematic pathogens. The catch, Dutta said, is the disease-causing pathogens, Burkholderia cepacia and B. gladioli pv. alliicola, are difficult to manage in organic systems as certified-organic products can be more limited and less efficient in controlling diseases.
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For more information: 
Cassie Ann Kiggen
University of Georgia
Tel.: +1 706-542-6190
Email: [email protected]