“Right now, we’re looking at the end of our onion season and the chile is getting ready to be harvested. As long as the weather continues, we’ll be able to send our onions out. There’s a term we use here—‘clip and ship.’ We clip the onions at the stem one day, then ship them out the next. The market has been excellent. Demand for our onions has been good.”
Head start
New Mexico onion growers begin their growing and harvesting season much earlier than growers in other states. Even so, Chile River competes with growers in the Pacific Northwest. Growers in Oregon, Washington and Idaho will be beginning their harvests within the next few weeks, which gives growers in New Mexico a good head start. This makes Chile River one of the main U.S. suppliers of onions, according to Franzoy.
“Prices have been steady all summer long, with no drastic fluctuations. With the strong demand we’ve had, our pricing has been good. The market sets the price,” Franzoy pointed out. Chile River sends onions all over the U.S. and into Canada. Its produce broker, Shiloh Produce, helps the company to set up shipping agreements with its customers.
Labor challenge
Franzoy pinpointed labor as the biggest challenge her company is currently facing. “When school starts, we lose so many of our workers, whether they are going to high school or college.” She also said that, when the green chile harvesting season begins, they lose workers. “As long as we can harvest the last onion and get it shipped out, we’ll end on a good note.”
