Pear Estimates Pt 1
With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. Pear harvest is now in full swing, and the first “official” estimate for the 2021/22 fresh pear crop for Washington and Oregon has growers smiling.
Pear Bureau Northwest President, Kevin Moffitt says the pear estimate is 16.1 million boxes, which is close to the 4-year average, and the fruit looks fantastic …
MOFFITT … “They’re just reporting really excellent quality in all the growing districts with, not just wonderful finish and size, but the eating quality. The sugars are high so it should be a wonderful eating experience for consumers this year.”
And the heat damage, Moffitt says was minimal …
MOFFITT … “For the pear growers, for sure, the heat damage didn’t seem to be as bad as some of the other crops and it may have to do with the fact that pears will tolerate more heat. But, also, some of the trees offer more shade than some of the high-density orchards of apples, for example.”
So this, Moffitt says was a big relief …
MOFFITT … “Yeah, I think there was a sigh of relief there. There will be some, I don’t know if we’re going to call it sunburn, but there might be a higher blush on the fruit because of the sun this year. But that’s not necessarily going to be graded out, meaning it won’t be too high of an amount to bring it down to a ‘fancy’ grade or a ‘third’ grade. It just might show it a little more blush which actually, in some cases, can be quite attractive to a consumer.”
Tune in tomorrow for more on this year’s official pear crop estimates and what it could mean for consumers.
