Onions in New Zealand
A brief history
Onions have been grown in New Zealand since the beginning of the country's modern history. As a result of New Zealand's isolation, off season supplies were difficult and expensive to get. In the early nineteen-twenties John Turbot, a Pukekohe onion grower, became interested in improving onion storage quality to reduce the need for imports.
In 1923 John Turbot grew a crop of onions using two imported seed lines: the brown Spanish (or Australian brown) and the straw Spanish. When they were mature he took a selection from the straw Spanish crop because he preferred:
- The golden-coloured bulb it produced on Pukekohe's volcanic soils.
- Its storage qualities which were better than the then standard brown Spanish storage type.
The original PLK and its descendants of newly developed varieties form the basis for the NZ onion export business. These varieties which have good storage ability allow us to export our onions to distant markets in the northern hemisphere. In 2009 NZ exported 120,000 tonnes of onions worth nearly NZ$45 million (FoB value)
)
)
)
