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                              VEGETABLE REPORT
                               October 2009

Seasonal
No. 984-5-09

                   NEW YORK ONION PRODUCTION DOWN 11 PERCENT 

New York's onion crop for 2009 is forecast at 3.69 million hundredweight (cwt.), 
down 11 percent from last year's crop of 4.14 million cwt., according to Steve 
Ropel, Director of USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service, New York 
Office. Harvested acreage is estimated at 9,700 acres, down 4 percent from 
last year’s acreage of 10,100. Excessive moisture resulted in some loss of 
acreage due to abandonment. 

                   U.S. SUMMER STORAGE ONION PRODUCTION UP 3 PERCENT 

Summer storage onion production is forecast at 57.2 million hundredweight, up 
3 percent from last year. Storage onion harvested area is forecast at 104,410 
acres, down 1 percent from 2008. California production, 13.9 million hundred-
weight, is 5 percent above 2008. Harvested area is expected to total 32,000 
acres, up 2 percent from last year. 


                 ONIONS: Area Harvested, Yield, and Production by Season, 
                  State, and United States, 2007-2008 and Forecasted 2009

                        Area
                                 For 
                 Harvested       Harv. Yield per Acre          Production
               2007     2008     2009  2007 2008 2009    2007     2008     2009

                        Acres                Cwt.                1,000 cwt. 

Season and State
Spring        30,200   28,400   27,000  327  338  349    9,870    9,603    9,428
Summer
Non-Storage   20,200   19,400   17,700  545  533  599   10,999   10,344   10,608

Storage 
CA 1/         29,000   31,300   32,000  425  425  435   12,325   13,303   13,920
CO             7,700    7,500    5,500  410  380  470    3,157    2,850    2,585
ID             9,100    8,600    8,800  750  720  740    6,825    6,192    6,512 
MI             3,800    3,600    3,900  260  280  330      988    1,008    1,287 
NY            10,500   10,100    9,700  360  410  380    3,780    4,141    3,686 
OR 
  Malheur     12,600   12,200   12,000  780  710  720    9,828    8,662    8,640
  Other       10,300    9,600    9,600  620  620  700    6,386    5,952    6,720
WA            22,500   20,000   19,000  610  600  630   13,725   12,000   11,970
WI             2,100    1,100    2,000  370  300  500      777      330    1,000
Other 
States 2/      2,080    1,690    1,910  470  497  445      978      840      849

  Total      109,680  105,690  104,410  536  523  548   58,769   55,278   57,169

  Summer     129,880  125,090  122,110  537  525  555   69,768   65,622   67,777

US           160,080  153,490  149,110  497  490  518   79,638   75,225   77,205

1/ Primarily for dehydrated and other processing. 
2/ OH and UT.