08/24/06 Canning Pears

Canning Pears. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Apparently a pear is not a pear; at least to growers. A pear can be canned or fresh or juiced. Jay Grandy is the manager of the Washington-Oregon Canning Pear Association and he explains how the industry works. GRANDY: Bartlett's are grown in three states, California, Oregon and Washington. The majority of them get processed into a can of some type. There are 5 canneries that process Bartlett's; one in Oregon and four in Washington, three of them in the Yakima Valley and the majority of the Yakima pears end up getting processed. The ones grown in Wenatchee go mainly to the fresh market; the ones grown in Hood River kind of go both places, half to fresh and half to processing so really the heart of the Bartlett processing business is in the Yakima Valley. Grandy says that all the same issues including labor apply to the canned pear market as well. GRANDY: They've got to have pickers out there to get them off the tree and they've got to haul them to the warehouses and pay the fuel prices and all those costs are hanging out there the same as if they were going to the fresh market. The Washington-Oregon Canning Pear Association has recently struck a contract with 3 of its cash buying processors in the northwest. Tomorrow, details on the agreement. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.