Marketing Onions
Onions are touted as the third most consumed vegetable in the United States. There’s no doubt you will want these kitchen staples on your farm or garden lineup. Marketing outlets for your onions include farmers’ markets, local restaurants, and even to your neighbors and friends. Starting with Sunbelt Transplants is the first step to success!
Farmers’ Markets
For selling at farmers’ markets, make sure plan ahead on how you will market your onions. There are several ways to market your onions to customers including – green onions, small bulbs with tops, and mature bulbs.
Green and Early Onions
For green onions, you can plant some of your transplants closer together at one inch apart, rather than two inches apart. After about 4-6 weeks of growth, harvest every other plant and the remainder of your onions will have enough space to bulb at the recommended 2-4 inch spacing. Bundle your greens in bunches of 5-10 plants with crisp green tops. This fills the earliest onion slot at farmers’ markets while the rest of your crop is still maturing. There is no particular green onion variety, but we recommend Superstar or White Spanish.
For early onions, consider bundling 3 or 4 small, early 8-10 week old onions with their green tops on them. The green tops provide a unique product which your customers are sure to love! This will fills the slot after green onions, but before mature bulbs.
Mature Bulb Onions
Lastly towards the end of market season, you can sell your full mature bulb onions. Depending on your location and variety, you may have sweeter varieties that your customers will want to enjoy right away. If you are in the long day area, you will have more storage type onions that your customers can store for months.
Consider selling onions in braids or netting that will allow customers to store properly and enjoy well into the winter months.
Keep Customers Coming Back Week After Week
If you prepare properly, your onion crop can provide unique onion products throughout the entire farmers’ market season. Your customers will keep coming back each week to see what new onion products you may have for them.
