University of Georgia
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

Vidalia Onion and Vegetable

Our Work and Purpose

The Vidalia Onion and Vegetable Research Center is located between Reidsville and Lyons in Toombs County on Highways 178 and 147. The facility is administered in five buildings on 3 acres of land owned by the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Two 11-acre tracts on a long-term lease from the Georgia Forestry Commission provide researchers and staff land to conduct studies and educational demonstrations.

The center was established in 1999 primarily to provide research on Vidalia onions, and 6-7 acres of research plots have been devoted to this crop every year.

Researchers have developed a new pumpkin variety here that will enable south Georgia farmers to grow pumpkins commercially for the first time. In addition, fertility studies and variety trials have been conducted in corn, squash, cucumbers and pumpkins. Blackberries, strawberries, carrots, Brassica crops, garlic, shallots and artichokes have also been studied here, along with no-till and organic vegetable production and composting demonstrations.


Area Agent

Christopher Todd Tyson
Christopher Todd Tyson Area Onion Agent
Southeast District Vidalia Onion & Vegetable Research Center
tysonc@uga.edu 912-565-7822

From the Vidalia Onion Blog

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Vidalia Onion Extension News
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Onion Seedbed Update (Oct 1, 2024)
Onion Folks, I hope everyone made it safely through the hurricane.  This will be one we will never forget.  As of today (Oct.1st), I know many of you are still without power and reliable cell phone service, and trying to clean up debris and make repairs.  The VOVRC did suffer some damage.  Several trees down, […]
Vidalia Onion Extension News
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Vidalia Onion Committee Seeking New Member Nominations for 2024
The Vidalia Onion Committee is seeking new member nominations for 2024. This is an annual process to elect 8 new nominees annually. Please click on the press release below to view more details. For questions, you may reach out to shane@vidaliaonion.org or cablaxton@vidaliaonion.org

Vidalia Onion Production Report 2020


Facility Location


Vidalia Onion and Vegetable Research Center
8163 Highway 178
Lyons, GA 30436

Vidalia Onion News

Combining data collection and analysis with plant pathology, precision agriculture and robotics, the UGA team will build a photographic library of the foliar symptoms caused by onion diseases and other physiological disorders, feed them into the AI software, and use machine learning to identify the diseases based on pattern and color recognition from the images. CAES News
UGA uses AI, robotics to improve Georgia’s Vidalia sweet onion crop
A multidisciplinary team of UGA researchers aims to enhance the competitiveness of Vidalia onion growers in Georgia by providing them with the ability to confidently detect onion diseases early, enabling them to make management decisions on their crop at a critical time. These abilities, researchers say, should result in increased yield and quality of marketable onions and an overall increase in efficiency and productivity.
internal rot CAES News
CAES leads $3.2M USDA grant to improve organic onion production
A team of researchers from the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences is partnering with colleagues from Texas A&M University to find more effective production practices for organic onion growers in the Southern United States. Bhabesh Dutta, associate professor in the UGA Department of Plant Pathology is leading the team over the next four years through a recently funded $3.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
UGA plant pathologist Bhabesh Dutta examines onion seedlings in research facilities on the UGA Tifton campus. CAES News
New “onion devourer” bacteria found by UGA researchers
University of Georgia researchers have identified a new species of bacteria, which they have named Pseudomonas alliivorans — from “allium vorans,” which translates as onion devourer or eater.
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