Merchandising Pears

Merchandising Pears. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

Pears were the topic at a recent panel discussion moderated by the Pear Bureau’s Christie Mather. She took a few minutes to recap the season’s crop.

MATHER: Last seasons crop was the largest crop on record coming in a 20.5 million boxes. The promotional programs put in place by the Pear Bureau and the NW Pear Shippers helped to move that crop in a profitable manner. This year’s crop is also large. It’s the fifth largest in our history at 19.2 million boxes and the season began with a strong start.

Bartlett pears had a record movement with 300-thousand boxes per week for several weeks straight.

MATHER: Demand for all varieties of the pears that are a part of this good, clean crop remain strong. As of the Pear Bureau’s last crop report38% of the crop has been sold to date compared to 31% at this time last season. So while shipments to date have been strong it doesn’t mean that we can rest on our laurels.

Of course promotions play an important part in all sectors of the tree fruit industry.

MATHER: Pear promotions for conventional and organic pears will continue to be pushed at retail across the U.S. and around the world. To do that the Pear Bureau has 5 domestic and regional marketing managers that are setting up pear merchandising promotions with grocery retailers across the U.S. and Canada. These regional marketing managers have custom tailored pear merchandising programs for 189 grocery chains this season.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.