NOA: Onion Growers Help Sustain A Healthy Planet Year Round

Earth Day may have been a few weeks ago (April 22^nd), but for the Ag industry, every day is Earth Day.  The National Onion Association says consumers may not be aware how growers not only keep the earth healthy, but also feed the growing population.

Rene Hardwick with the NOA said stewardship starts at home with the soil.  She said growers are invested in their soil and if they harm it, they can’t make a living off of it.  Hardwick added they are constantly looking at the latest research to find the best ways to utilize and protect their land.

“So, they can get the most optimal growing situation.  So, they have water management practices like drip irritation and they work toward using less fertilizer, and they use cover crops to keep the ground stable throughout the non-growing season.”

Hardwick said there are examples of onion growers or producers around the country doing what they can to promote a health planted.  Whether that’s the onion power effort in California, reducing one’s carbon footprint with solar panels, or an innovative project in New York where college students are experimenting with onion skins to color clothes and other textiles.

“And it’s a natural way to color the clothing and dye it, and do it in a sustainable way.  So all that waste from onion skins that fall of at the super market give it to them.  They want every bit of it so they dye their clothes.”

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