2010 Pear Marketing

2010 Pear Marketing. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. I enjoy going to the supermarket. The produce section is really my favorite because of the incredible array of shapes and colors from all over the world but especially in knowing that some of the fresh products were grown right outside on local farms. It is fun to pick over the unusual variety of products and to learn what and how to pick the best ones. The other night I was shopping late and heard an announcement telling me the correct way to determine if a pear was ripe and ready to eat. JAMES: We are doing really a multi-phased approach to that. If you'd have come in in the morning what you would have heard in a "Check the Neck" program but the radio spot, while it is certainly meant to bring awareness and education to that shopper in the store is really focused at the people working in the produce department. That's Dennis James, Marketing Director for Pear Bureau Northwest. A lot of turnover of new employees means on-going education. JAMES: This is a simple way to educate them to what "Check the Neck" really has as a value and kind of instill that in them without having to stop them dead in their tracks and ask them to read or take some training on it so we're doing that in the morning and we're transitioning to a shopper exclusive kind of approach to the "Check the Neck." The Pear Bureau has been very active in using the in-store radio as a way of informing and educating for the last several years. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.