Northwest Pear Outlook Pt 1
With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. Pear harvest in the Pacific Northwest is underway and things look promising in spite of the extreme weather and drought we’ve experienced this year.
Kevin Moffitt, president of Pear Bureau Northwest, says from what he’s hearing, things are off to a very good start …
MOFFITT … “They’re out there harvesting. Some growers are picking Bartletts as well as Starkrimsons and some other small, early varieties. And, actually, it’s looking pretty good as far as quality goes.”
We’re not setting any records this year, Moffitt says, but still a nice sized crop …
MOFFITT … “At this point, we’re probably going to end up with a close to average sized crop. Our five-year average is about 16,800,000 box equivalents, and it seems like it will be close to that one way or another, you know, up or down from that. So, a very solid crop that could turn into a very profitable crop for the grower.”
But the weather, Moffitt says doesn’t appear yet to have been much of a factor …
MOFFITT … “We don’t know exactly what the impact will be, but I can tell you that pears handle the heat better than some tree fruit. And so, we were pretty early in the growth stages.”
So, Moffitt says they’ll keep an eye on things …
MOFFITT … “The issues they’re watching for will be sunburn, which you probably heard about with apples as well, and potential sizing of the fruit because that heat can shut down the trees. The fruit stops cell division and can shut down growth for a while.”
Tune in tomorrow for more on the Northwest Pear Crop.
