Hard labor reaps onion research rewards

On April 20, Georgia’s Vidalia onion growers started shipping this year’s crop, which is expected to be high in quality and yields. No grower can ship onions before this opening day, which the Georgia Department of Agriculture regulates to protect the quality and reputation of the state’s official vegetable.

Growing during Georgia’s winter months, the onions face many challenges from disease to wet and cold days to dry and hot weather and everything in between. And to help them stay in the black each year, growers have depended on the odd coupling of University of Georgia researchers and prison labor.

Helping hands

A select group of inmates from the Rogers State Prison near Reidsville, Ga., provide the essential, labor-intensive work that’s necessary at the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Vidalia Onion and Vegetable Research Center. The fledging center is the brainchild of Reid Torrance, UGA Cooperative Extension coordinator in Tattnall County.
“This is the only place in this part of the state that conducts commercial vegetable research, but also it’s unique because of the inmate labor detail,” Torrance said.

In vegetable research, he said, it makes a big difference when labor is readily available for timely harvests. The prison labor, worth $120,000 annually, is a big savings for the facility, which has become vital in an effort to support the state’s fastest growing commodity group. Worth $500 million annually, vegetables rank second behind poultry in farm-gate sales. Vidalia onions generated more than $140 million at the farm level in 2007.

“Growers had always wanted research done in the onion belt,” said Torrance, one of the world’s foremost Vidalia onion experts. “Other than on-farm projects, we didn’t really have any place to do that.”

Needed research facility

Late in 1998, Torrance had a brainstorm: “We’ve got 9,000 acres out there at the prison, and surely they have a little corner out there somewhere where we can do some research.”
He made some calls and arranged a meeting with UGA and Department of Corrections representatives along with legislators and onion growers. The old Page Nursery, a site where the Georgia Forestry Commission once grew pine seedlings, was determined the perfect site for a research facility.

UGA researchers quickly established onion research plots there. Soon after, Torrance inked a 15-year lease agreement for 22 acres of fields and three acres with usable buildings. Funding to support the center came from the legislature and private supporters.

In spring 2000, 80 people attended the center’s first onion field day. In less than a year, a dozen projects relating to several disciplines were underway. Now the center needed to staff and equip the facility.

Torrance needed working hands more than anything, and he didn’t have to look far. The prison inmates were right there.

The center continues to grow. Scientists across the state from a variety of disciplines now conduct research there.

In 2008, the forestry commission gave all 142 acres of the old nursery to the college. Torrance raised funds and worked with DOC engineers to develop plans for a new building.

“At the onion field day now, we have more than 100 people. An international audience comes to see our varieties,” Torrance said. “We also have twilight field days for summer and fall vegetables. And, we have an emphasis on organic onion production.”

The center had cotton and soybean plots last year and will likely have them again, along with peanut, this year.

“The difference between what we had and what we have now is night and day,” Torrance said.

He hopes to continue to upgrade the center and get more UGA Extension agents involved with research there. Most importantly, he wants the center to be known for conducting accurate, reliable research for the state’s growers.

By Faith Peppers
University of Georgia

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50 ways to eat a Vidalia Onion

April 20 was the official “Shipping Date” that began the 2009 Vidalia® Onion Marketing Season. The onions have started arriving in stores, and some of Georgia’s leaders as well as regular citizens are sharing their favorite ways to eat the world’s favorite onion.

Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Tommy Irvin shows his rural roots when he says he is especially fond of eating them with black-eyed peas and cornbread for lunch at the office. For Deputy Agriculture Commissioner Terry Coleman, it’s a couple of Vidalia onion slices on whole wheat bread with mustard, mayo and some salt and pepper. State Representative Tom McCall likes them microwaved with butter and a little salt and pepper. State Rep. Butch Parrish says “My wife makes a dip with Vidalia onions, cheese and lite mayonnaise that is perfect for any kind of chip or cracker.” State Senator John Bulloch says “They’re great as a side dish for about anything.”

A quick survey of employees at the Georgia Department of Agriculture revealed even more alternatives including Vidalia onions marinated in soy sauce and olive oil and grilled, baked in foil with butter or a bullion cube, thinly sliced on a peanut butter sandwich, in salads, cut up in vinegar with banana peppers and tomatoes, in baked beans, marinated in Italian or balsamic dressing and grilled until slightly tender, in a sandwich with tomato, as onion rings, in Vidalia onion and rice casserole, and straight as a complement to the meal and not part of any dish.
The Vidalia onion is truly versatile as well as tasty.

There must be at least 50 ways to eat one:

Dice it in your dip, Chip,
Chip it in your beef, Chief,
In your tartar sauce, Boss,
And your seafood, Dude,
On your burger patty, Mattie,
Raw and plain, Elaine,
With a little salt, Walt,
With your cornbread, Fred,
Along with your greens, Eugene,
On top of your chili, Willie,
With any cheese, Louise,
With green eggs and ham, Sam,
In a caboose, Dr. Seuss,
With bacon, in Macon,
With your pâté, Kay-tay,
Wrestle it with a fork, Mickey Rourke,
With your bare hand, Ms. Streisand,
Grab one to go, Joe,
Take it a la carte, Bart,
With butterbeans, Billie Jean,
With any veggie, Reggie,
Now with a ‘mater, not later,
Sliced thin, Ben,
With buttermilk-a, Mr. Rilke,
On a sandwich, Rich,
At the church picnic, Rick,
As an hors d'oeuvre, Merv,
In French cuisine, Celine,
With tomato aspic, Nick,
With fried okra, Oprah,
Dining at the Ritz, Fritz,
Chew it with joy, Roy,
Bite it with glee, Lee
In your sa-lad, Vlad,
Mince it, Vincent,
Slip it in your stew, Lou,
Pop it in your squash, Josh,
As an appetizah, Liza,
In a casserole, Dr. Scholl,
Put it in a quiche, capice!
Without sweat, Chet,
Sauté it in a pan, Stan,
With a fine sherry, Terry,
Or a cabernet, Renee,
Right off the grill, Phil,
On a kebob, Rob,
With biscuits and gravy, Davy,
With a pickled beet, Pete,
In a pocket of pita, Rita,
Any way, Kay.
Today, Ray.

Vidalia onions are a uniquely Georgia crop and are only produced in a 20-county growing area in the southeastern part of the state.

What is your favorite way to eat a Vidalia? For more recipes see http://www.vidaliaonion.org/index.php .

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Vidalia® Onions are coming April 20th

ull out your list of ways to eat them. They’re coming. The official “Shipping Date” for the 2009 Vidalia® Onion Marketing Season is April 20th, says Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Tommy Irvin.

The shipping date is based on the recommendation of the Vidalia® Onion Advisory Panel under the authority of the law, rules and regulations applicable to Vidalia® Onions.

Vidalia® Onions may ONLY be shipped prior to April 20th if each and every load being shipped has a Federal-State Inspection Certificate stating the onions have met the established grade requirements and are under “Positive Lot Identification” as approved by the Federal-State Inspection Service.

“The Federal-State Inspection assures the quality of the onions and that they have matured to meet the marketing standards,” Irvin said. “Onions that are harvested and shipped too early and do not meet the grade requirements can damage the reputation of this important crop. None of us want to see the name Vidalia® attached to a substandard product.”

In 2007, the last year for which data is available, the value of the Vidalia® Onion crop was $116.3 million, making it the most valuable vegetable crop in Georgia that year.

This year, the Georgia Department of Agriculture registered 98 Vidalia® onion growers for a total of roughly 11,500 acres in the 20-county growing area, which is very close to the same number of growers and acres registered last year.

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