These Crop Profiles do not contain detailed information on pests, pesticides, or pest managment options, but serve as a base-line for some of the crop profiling work that is underway in 1999. About 12,000 acres of onions are grown in New York State each year. In most years it is the most valuable of New York's vegetable crops, though the potato crop sometimes exceeds it in value. However, onion production varies widely in quality, yield, and costs. Figure 29.1 .
Onions are second only to apples in pesticide use per acre.
Nevertheless, the supply of effective labeled chemicals continues to dwindle because of regulation and diminishing interest in the crop by the pesticide industry. Table 29.1 shows the current IPM methods that are applied in commercial onion fields to control onion pests. It also lists the percentage of the total pesticide load currently used to manage each pest. There are significant opportunities for onion growers to reduce pesticide use and increase profitability by implementing existing IPM techniques in New York fields. Researchers have developed reliable IPM strategies for managing the three most important pests of onions.