Co-owner of Georgia sweet onion grower dies at 79
Pam Durrence Dasher, a longtime Vidalia onion grower and co-owner of Georgia-based G&R Farms, has died at age 79.
Dasher died July 24. She had served as co-owner of G&R Farms in Glenville since 2003.
Dasher joined the third-generation grower in 1962 when she married her husband, Gerald W. Dasher. Following Gerald Dasher’s death, Pam Dasher assumed co-ownership and management of the farm alongside her brother-in-law, Robert Dasher.
“From the earliest of years, Pam was the backbone of the office, providing the structured support Gerald and Robert needed so they could focus on sales and production,” G&R Farms CEO Blake Dasher said in a news release. “It was her unwavering support and quiet confidence that helped build the foundation that we continue to grow from today, and there’s no doubt she was a tiny giant among men.”
G&R Farms, which celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2020, grows more than 5,000 acres of sweet onions, along with corn, soybeans, peanuts, hay, wheat, rye and pecans.
The company became the first growers to market sweet onions directly to national supermarkets when it began supplying Kroger in the 1980s, according to its website.
In 2015, G&R Farms created Growing America’s Farmers, a nonprofit that teams with Future Farms of America to provide scholarships to agricultural students.
