How did Vidalia Onions originate?

Unlike many produce items, we can trace the origin of these sweet onions. In the spring of 1931, Mose Coleman discovered that the onions he had planted in his field were not hot, as he expected - they were sweet! At first, he apologized for the sweetness of his onions, but once people began tasting them, this sweet onion became a "hot" commodity!

As other farmers in the area heard of Coleman's sweet "gold mine", they began planting the onion seed in the sandy loam soil of southeast Georgia to sell to an ever-growing group of consumers. A Farmers' Market was built in Vidalia (at the juncture of some of South Georgia's most widely traveled highways), and the market experienced a thriving tourist business. Consumers traveling through the area began talking about "those Vidalia Onions", giving the sweet onion its now-famous name.

Nationwide marketing of the onions grew as the production areas grew, and by the mid-1970s, the name "Vidalia" was being introduced far beyond the Deep South. In 1986, Georgia's state legislature passed legislation giving the Vidalia Onion legal status and defined the 20-county production area. The Vidalia Onion was named Georgia's State Vegetable by the state legislature in 1990.

In 1989, Vidalia Onion producers united to establish Federal Marketing Order No. 955 for the crop. This USDA program extended the definition of a Vidalia Onion to the Federal level, and provided a vehicle for producers to jointly fund research and promotional programs.

Vidalia Onions are harvested from April through mid-June. Technology borrowed from the apple industry in 1990 was adapted to begin the controlled atmosphere (C/A) storage of Vidalia Onions. The utilization of C/A storage (which uses no chemicals, only the natural elements found in pure air) has extended the marketing of Vidalia Onions through the fall and into the holiday season.