PATERSON — Craig Engbretson’s eyes are starting to water.
That’s what 6,000 tons of onions can do to you.
The Horse Heaven Hills farmer has been growing the fragrant bulbs since 1984, but he still has trouble keeping his eyes open as trucks and conveyor belts carry them from field to drying shed.
“It takes me a couple days” to get used to it, he says with a grimace and a smile.
The grimace is for the aroma; the smile is for his harvest.
This month, Engbretson and four or five other growers on this plateau south of Prosser — known more for its wheat and wine grapes — are finishing their onion harvest.
Depending on whom you ask, these few farmers might produce half the state’s onions, ranked as the 12th-most valuable crop at $111 million, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Growers of onions and other specialty crops often are coy about how much they plant for fear buyers might use the information against them when negotiating prices. Fewer than 1,000 farmers in the country grow onions, and competition is intense. Even a change of a few hundred acres from year to year can sway the market.
The National Onion Association ranks Washington as the highest onion acreage state but second in volume compared to its neighbors to the south, a growing area that encompasses Idaho and Eastern Oregon.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported prices of $16 to $20 per bag for white onions and $6 to $8.50 per bag for yellows. Red globe onions ranged from $5 to $7 per 25-pound sack.
The growing season lasts nearly all year, it hardly rains and growers in the area use Columbia River water for irrigation.
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