This season has proven challenging for Flemish onions. While the acreage has increased significantly in recent years, late sowing and tough growing conditions have created difficulties. "It has been a better crop than the past three years for us, but storage remains a challenge. With a lot of downy mildew, you end up with short-storage onions, which means a lot of the crop needs to go to market quickly," says Joeri Ongena of the onion peeling company Ongena.
The company, based in Moerbeke-Waas, Flanders, has seen substantial growth in recent years, recently building a new storage facility. "Around 70% of what we process comes from our own fields, and this cultivation has expanded bit by bit over the years. With the new building, which should be fully completed soon, we now can store more of our own crop as well as other sourced onions. This allows us to be more flexible in meeting customer demand," explains Joeri.
Despite the increased yield, this year's onion storage has faced quality issues. Heavy rain during ripening left the onions greener and wetter than usual. Additionally, the late season meant the crop was brought into storage later, under less favorable drying conditions. "Drying capacity is simply smaller in October compared to September," explains Jonas Bodyn of the research institute Viaverda. "As a result, more onions in storage are experiencing bacterial rot, and there is also an increase in head rot."
"Joeri adds, "Some plots didn't absorb the MH pesticide well due to the widespread downy mildew. So storage remains a challenge. While the yield itself is not a problem, the last batches came in wet, and the poor weather during sowing meant many fields had poor structure. This has led to issues in our region, even if some areas fared better."
The downy mildew has resulted in a shorter storage period for many onions, necessitating quick sales. "The market is active, but prices need to rise to make it sustainable. Bale prices are still too close to the crop price. If bale prices increase, the crop price should follow. However, predicting how the season will play out is difficult," Joeri notes. He remains cautious, reflecting on last year when fears of shortages in December were followed by a surplus in May. "We just focus on doing our best for our customers."
Despite the challenges, Ongena has maintained a steady supply. "We specialize in growing, peeling, cutting, and packaging onions for the fresh market. Finding large batches for processing has been difficult, as those that turned out well are often held onto. Fortunately, we have sufficient onions from our contracts and good storage-quality sets, which allows us to keep up with demand," Joeri says.
The company is currently busy with the holiday season surge in demand, as onions are in high demand during the Christmas and winter periods. "After New Year, things usually quiet down, but for now, we're operating at full capacity and cannot complain about sales. What the rest of the season holds remains uncertain," Joeri concludes.
For more information:
Joeri Ongena
Onion peeling company Ongena
Ledestraat 22
9180 Moerbeke-Waas, Belgium
[email protected]
www.ongena-uien.be