06/08/07 Pushing The Pears

Pushing the Pears. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Pear Bureau Northwest is projecting a bumper crop this year after last years hail storm damaged a portion of the crop. But according to Kevin Moffitt, President of Pear Bureau Northwest their recent crop estimate showed most types of pears to be on the up side with a few exceptions. MOFFITT: And the only real surprise is the Bosc crop is looking to be down by about 17% against last year and almost 10% off a 5-year average. The D'Anjou crop is going to be pretty close to a 5-year average. Moffitt says that one pear will be maybe too plentiful this year. MOFFITT: The green Bartlett crop is 21% above a 5-year average and 13% against last year so we're going to be needing to get started in the market very quick, very aggressive to ensure that we get some of the Bartlett's moved as quickly as possible so they don't get too tangled up in the season when we start on our Anjou's and other winter varieties so we're going to have to get out of the shoot very fast this year. They are working on developing some additional export markets to move Bartlett's but Moffitt says they are planning on working with school lunch programs as well. MOFFITT: I just got back from Washington DC where I talked to the USDA about the potential for getting some Bartlett's into a school lunch purchase early on in the season and that looks relatively favorable so we'll be pursuing that a little bit more too but definitely in the domestic market that's the biggest opportunity. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.