09/04/07 Pear Harvest Underway

Pear Harvest Underway. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. It appears that this year's crop of pears will be a good one. Pear harvest is underway in the Northwest and according to Dan Kelly with the Growers Clearing House, initial estimates look good. KELLY: Bartlett's are in full swing. I think we're going to see some D'Anjou's starting next week but so far good size, good quality. We don't have a lot of numbers yet because it's still pretty early but the early prices that we've seen are better than last year so that's a good thing. Last year the pear crop was nearly decimated after a severe hail storm left many orchards in shambles. Kelly says crop quality is excellent. KELLY: What did somebody say  vintage crop (laughs). So the quality has been good, size is variable but for the most part right in the right ranges and the weather right now is pretty ideal. Labor continues to be an issue but in several cases, not due to the lack of workers. KELLY: One grower got his crew started on Bartlett's and within the first hour they had a sit down strike and said they wouldn't continue until they got 3 more dollars a bin to pick and 3 dollars is a pretty good chunk when you're already paying 15-16 dollars and you're going to have 3 dollars on top of that. The growers are kind of getting held hostage at this point. It's a bit of a battle right now trying to make sure you get enough people and getting the fruit off the trees. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.