New onion facility a ‘terrific’ asset

That scale of investment is a “useful amount of money” for the NZ onion industry which is reasonably small on the world stage, Ahern told Rural News.

“We, the NZ industry, are very reliant these days on overseas breeders having material that we can use and that’s not as easy as it sounds,” he says..

“A facility based in this country and having trials in our locality is very welcome. We are very supportive of the whole initiative. The name of the game is trialling and appropriateness for NZ conditions.

“Sometimes these seed lines have been bred for other conditions – the US or Europe – so really you are trying to find the best fit for local conditions out of their full range which is fairly extensive of course.

“Plus there is the intellectual side of it: you’ve got breeders who are then touching on the [growing] community which is fantastic.”

The onion breeding station opened officially late last month is a world-class facility housing state-of-the-art sheds, crop covers and irrigation systems.

It is part of Seminis’ global mid-day onion breeding program, supporting key markets including Australia, NZ, South Africa and Brazil.

Dr Yossi Shapiro, global breeding director for large seed/root & bulb/brassica crops at Monsanto Vegetable Seeds cut the ribbon.

“The Pukekohe station is already yielding significant results for Seminis onion growers in NZ, Australia and further abroad. It adds an important dimension to Seminis’ global onion breeding network, both in knowledge transfer and genetics,” Shapiro says.

“Our investment in the new station demonstrates Seminis’ long-term commitment to Australian and NZ onion growers and to developing onion varieties that meet their needs and suit local conditions.”

At least 40 growers from Australia and NZ attended the innovation day, with key members of the global Seminis onion breeding team who travelled to NZ from the US, Brazil and South America.

The Innovation Day gave growers the opportunity to see new Seminis hybrids and hear from experts on where breeding efforts will be focussed in future. 

Local growers were particularly impressed by the wide planting window of the new early maturing variety SVNH1752, which will offer greater flexibility in sowing schedules. 

The new variety Currawong was also on show. Currawong is a high yielding, first early variety with resistance to Fusarium basal rot and Pink root.

A very tricky season

Onions are challenged by the weather this year, after a good run for the last three or four years, says Ahern.

And this season’s hurdles were not only growing, but also harvesting. 

“This high humidity and several days of rain on end is hard work. 

“We will see where we stand in about a month’s time; crops should all be in by then and we will take another look. But at the moment I don’t think anyone is hiding the fact that it is quite a tricky season.”