Onion Farmer Has High Hopes For This Season's Crop

GOSHEN, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) - Spring brings a new planting season for local farmers and high hopes on the onion crop in what's called the "black dirt" farming region of Orange County.

On the back of a planting machine, Chris Pawelski told WCBS 880's Paul Murnane he's hoping for a repeat of last summer's bounty-- a beautiful season after a decade of floods and other setbacks.

Far-away competitors in the onion business are facing challenges, Murnane reported.

"To get them across the country, the truck is costing more per bag so that's increasing our price. But there was such an overproduction last year [that] in the last few months, onions have been selling locally for under what we sold back in the 80s, about $4-5 dollars a bag," Pawelski said.

Changes in labor law and local flood control projects are on the wish list for farmers supplying New York's green markets with produce.

For the moment though, life is all about starting another crop of onions.