NYSSA, Ore. —  At Snake River Produce, Kyle Erstrom likes how the onions look as they’re packed and shipped.

“Onion quality is good,” said Erstrom, sales and general manager.

While prices are down from a year ago, stored onions are holding up well — likely helped by recently below-average temperatures, he said.

Northwest onions posted gains in production value and other measures in 2024, according to a vegetable summary that USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service released Feb. 13. Better growing conditions in southeast Oregon and southwest Idaho contributed to the increase.

Oregon, Idaho and Washington last year reported gains in area harvested, total production, utilized production and the value of utilized production.

Onions in Idaho had an utilized production value of nearly $205 million, up 25% from 2023. Oregon’s production value of about $260 million was up 10%. Washington’s $477 million was up 7%. The three states combined accounted for 58% of national utilized production.

From 2023 to last year, area harvested increased from 10,900 acres to 11,600 in Idaho and from 20,900 to 22,200 in Oregon. Washington harvested acreage dropped slightly, from 26,900 to 26,800, according to the survey-derived NASS data.

Malheur County, Ore., which shares a growing region with Idaho, had 11,000 acres harvested in 2023 and 11,300 in 2024.

Onion production in southeast Oregon and southwest Idaho in 2023 was below average. Planting was late in an unusually wet, cold spring. A Pacific hurricane hit parts of the growing area as harvest got underway in August.

“There certainly is more crop,” Bruce Corn, who farms between Ontario and Nyssa, Ore., said of 2024 output. “The fields were better. There was a lot less disease pressure in 2024, and the market has reflected that.”

In the 2024 growing season, “we had a good crop, so our total shipments are up 15-20% from this time last year,” Corn said in mid-February.

Prices are down from the 2023-24 marketing year, which was profitable on tighter supply, and have dropped since the end of calendar 2024, he said.

“It seems like weekly we are seeing a decline in price,” Corn said. The price is “well below the cost of production.”

Onions from Mexicon are coming onto the U.S. market seasonally. These onions cost less to ship because they originate closer to eastern U.S. markets, and a newer onion from Mexico may command a higher price than a long-stored onion, he said.

“Right now, the market’s not as good,” said Corey Maag, owner and secretary at Jamieson Produce Inc. in Vale, Ore. Demand is fairly consistent for onions, and “there probably is a little more supply” now.

Production in the area in 2024 was mostly in line with long-term averages following the previous year’s lighter crop, Maag said. The 2024 crop had some shrink, possibly a result of extended heat and heavy wildfire smoke.

Onion shrinkage and loss in 2024 increased in Idaho, and in Oregon including Malheur County, but dropped in Washington, according to NASS.

“Marketable volume is higher this year,” Maag said. “I’m not giving up hope something might happen where we can rally things back a little bit” price wise.

Snake River Produce is expected to finish marketing its 2024 onion crop in early April, Erstrom said.