Our History | G&R Farms

Our humble roots began in 1945 as a small farm in Southeast Georgia

Back then, our grandfather Walter L. Dasher grew a few acres of a new sweet and mild onion variety. Over time, Walter became known as one of the pioneers who helped put Vidalia® onions on the map as a widely popular brand.

We’ve come a long way…

Since then, we’ve evolved across three generations, expanding to more than 5000 acres that encompass several crops. But our legacy has always been too perfect the quality and flavor of our sweet onions, available year-round.

We’re also proud of our sustainability efforts enabling us to ensure the health, well-being, and livelihood of our farm workers while protecting the environment for the next 80 years.

Even though there have been many changes since 1945, our values have remained the same. We’re rooted and honesty, integrity, and sustainability – the cornerstones of our family farm. Check out our historical timeline.

Our Timeline

1920's-1970's

Piggly Wiggly was headquartered in Vidalia, Georgia. At that time, they recognized the potential of a new sweet onion named Vidalia. They counted on growers such as Walter Dasher for their supply and word quickly spread among shoppers until this new, flavorful variety grew in popularity.

After Walter’s passing in 1971, his sons’ Gerald and Robert renamed the operation G&R Farms. As demand kept increasing, the brothers started selling Vidalia sweet onions to out-of-state customers through a farm-based mail order business.

1980's

G&R became the first producers to market to a national supermarket chain when they began supplying Vidalia sweet onions for Kroger.

2009

In 2009, we began importing onions from Peru in the off-season from September – March to provide a year-round supply of sweet onions to our customers. Nearly identical to the Vidalia in terms of taste, sweetness, and color, they are grown from the same seed variety as our Vidalia onions. We work closely and collaboratively with our boots on the ground in Peru to deliver an onion with all the characteristics Vidalia fans have come to expect.

2015

Growing America’s Farmers was created to support and educate the youth of America for their future in farming. GAF provides academic scholarships to Future Farmers of America (FFA) students studying production agriculture and fosters community groups that encourage bringing future farm generations together.The program partners with the FFA, which brings invaluable reach across the farming community.

2020

We celebrated our 75^th anniversary with a new logo and brand image that reflects who we are now. We’ve grown from a few acres to more than 5,000. Our main focus is sweet onions, but we also service timber, peanuts, corn, cotton, and cover crops, and are home to a 1,500 cow-calf beef herd operation.

2023

To greatly improve efficiencies and reduce order time while optimizing quality, we undertook a major facility upgrade and included expansion of our packing equipment. More than eight years in planning, this investment modernized our operations with state-of-the-art technology that enhances speed, precision, and product consistency across every order.