How are the onions doing compared to other years?

Now that the bulb formation in the seed onions has started and the plants are growing strongly, comparisons can be made with the previous seasons. Is growth consistent or are there clear differences in the seed onions?

Also this year the Boerenbusiness Crop tour of several plots of yellow seed onions in various regions in the Netherlands. This allows good comparisons to be made with the previous 3 growing seasons and the differences are clearly visible. The cold weather conditions are particularly noticeable this year.

Smaller onion crop and later start of bulb formation
Although the average sowing dates of the Boerenbusiness Crop tour was a week earlier than last year, sowing onions are well behind in growth compared to previous years. The images confirm that because the bulb formation has started a lot later this year and the foliage has clearly less volume than in previous years. 

During the past growing seasons, several growers were currently providing the seed onions with moisture by means of sprinkling. For comparison: this year there was even a small crane in Kortgene (Zeeland) (see last image) to dig trenches against the large amount of water that remained standing. In addition, this year there was a one-off irrigation on the Gewastour plot in Ysselsteyn (Zeeland).

Jesse Torringa

Jesse is an editor at Boerenbusiness and focuses in particular on the arable farming sector, including grain and onions. He also closely follows the fertilizer market. In addition, Jesse works on an arable farm in Groningen with seed potatoes as the main branch.

j.torringa@boerenbusiness. Nl

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