The pear industry in the U.S. Pacific Northwest is estimating its fresh crop will come in at 17.6 million boxes, which would put it 2% lower year-on-year and 10% down on the five-year average. 

The forecast, which applies to pear growers from Washington’s Wenatchee and Yakima districts and Oregon’s Mid-Columbia and Medford, was compiled at the Pear Bureau Northwest (PBNW) on June 1.

“Growers are reporting an excellent quality of pear crop on the trees, albeit a bit shorter crop than last season,” PBNW CEO Kevin Moffitt said.

“At nearly 18 million boxes, we expect a high quality crop in promotable numbers.”

Harvest is expected close to historical average pick dates, which is later than the last two seasons.

Starkrimson are expected in early August with Bartlett harvest expected in late August. Anjou, Bosc and Comice will be harvested beginning in September through early October.

Concorde, Forelle, and Seckel will be picked in September and October, across the four growing districts.

The estimates for leading varieties include 8.9 million standard boxes for Green Anjou, about 51% of total Northwest fresh pear crop, 4.4 million standard boxes of Bartlett (25% of the total crop) and 2.2 million Bosc respectively (13% of the total crop.) Red Anjou will represent 6% of the crop with a potential 1.1 million standard boxes.

Green Anjou pears are showing a projected crop increase of 7% compared with a smaller crop in 2016. Growers estimate that the Bartlett pear crop will be down 4% compared with last season, which is a mere 2% drop off of a five-year average. 

The Bosc pear crop is estimated to be well short of average, while Red Anjou production is expected to be 10% higher than last year and 6% above the five-year average.

The organic pear estimate came in at 1.12 million standard boxes (25,000 metric tons), 6.4% of the total Northwest crop. This number is lower than 2016 season by 5.5%, but shows a 10.5% growth over the five-year average for the Northwest.

The organic Green Anjou crop is expected to be 470,000 boxes, while the Bartlett and Bosc crop sizes are estimated at 377,800 and 123,200 boxes respectively.

“Promotion plans for the new season are in place and PBNW regional marketing managers have begun calling on retailers across the USA and Canada, analyzing data and developing programs to optimize the retailers’ pear category,” Moffitt said.

Display and promotion opportunities will begin in the fall with early season programs, leading to promotion support all season long.

The export market typically accounts for around 39-45% of the total sales in a given season including Mexico and Canada as the biggest markets, as reported by Global Trade Atlas.

PBNW activities are coordinated to help increase grower returns across nearly 30 countries worldwide. The program targets both consumers and trade with the goal to create greater demand by increasing awareness on ripening, varieties, nutrition and usage.

Activities in top markets, including Mexico, Central America, India, the Middle East and Asia will include in-store sampling, nutrition workshops, consumer advertising, movie promotional tie-ins, social media and event activations. 

Larger scale special activities for the 2017-18 season include a USA Pears Road Show in India and a Luchador (Mexican wrestling) themed nutrition promotion for kids and families in Mexico. Mexico is the industry’s largest export market, and PBNW uses its proprietary retail pear category data to identify the opportunities for new varieties, size and grades of Northwest pears with the major retailers.

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