Spreading the word about pears, Washington’s ‘forgotten’ fruit
YAKIMA – After Northwest pear growers endured their worst harvest in nearly 40 years this fall, some good news and optimism for the future was needed – and provided – at the Washington State Tree Fruit Association’s annual meeting.
The gathering, held Monday through Wednesday in Yakima alongside the Northwest Horticulture Expo, gave pear growers a chance to share what works in pest control, pollination, post-harvest storage and other areas.
It also allowed CarrieAnn Arias, the recently hired president and CEO of Pear Bureau Northwest, to share some target areas for marketing and promoting pears on Tuesday afternoon.
Arias has been in the marketing business for various fruits for 25 years. She said pears often take a backseat to apples and cherries in Washington’s fruit orchards.
“In my opinion, pears have been forgotten … they are an afterthought (after apples and cherries),” Arias said.
She is hoping to change that by focusing on the positive aspects of pears: their taste, their portability and their health benefits.
“Pears have a lot of fiber, and sometimes it’s not easy to talk about,” Arias said as members of the audience chuckled. “But flavor also matters. Taste, at the end of the day, is the most important part of it.”
Rough year for pear crop
This past season was the smallest pear crop since 1985, said Ed Ing, a grower with Mount Adams Fruit near White Salmon.
“We’ve averaged 15.4 million boxes over the last five years in the Northwest,” Ing said. “This was a tough year … we had a downward trend on all varieties, but particularly on Anjous.”
This year, the state tree fruit association estimated a pear crop of 10.6 million standard box equivalents in Washington and Oregon, down 31% from the five-year average. One of the challenges was pollination.
For pears, a 44-pound box is standard. The 2023 harvest was 15.2 million boxes.
Combined with the increased cost of labor and supplies, it’s been a tough stretch in the region’s pear orchards, which produce more than 80% of the nation’s pears, Ing said.
“There’s plenty of adversity in the pear industry,” he added. “But we also have a lot of advantages. … I can’t think of anybody who’s told me, ‘I can’t stand the smell of that pear.’ ”
Getting consumers to try them
That’s where Arias and her bureau come in, with ambitious goals to increase the number of households that consume pears and to increase the frequency of pear purchases.
Recent statistics are daunting, as the share of U.S. households that are buying pears has dropped 3 percentage points over the past two years, Arias said. And the dollar amount of fresh pear sales has fallen 4.9% compared to one year ago.
Some factors, such as inflation in the U.S. economy, are beyond the pear industry’s control.
“Did we lose some (sales) because of price? Absolutely, we did,” Arias said. “We’ve seen losses due to price in just about every fruit other than bananas.”
One beneficial development over the past five years was a renewed emphasis on healthy foods among consumers following the COVID-19 pandemic, she said.
“People started buying things because they were healthy. Produce sales went through the roof,” Arias added.
Marketing efforts will focus on social media influencers, traditional media and school lunch programs, she said. But pear growers can help in one important way.
“You need pears to be on the shelves 365 days a year,” Arias said. “And if it’s not your pears, you’d better hope the pears from Argentina or wherever are high quality. One bad experience turns consumers away for months.”
Cold storage, pollination issues
Other speakers during Tuesday’s WSTFA pear session addressed more technical issues of pear production, from pollination in the spring all the way through processing and cold storage.
Chris Adams with the Oregon State Mid Columbia Ag Research and Extension Center discussed strategies to control pear psylla, one of the most widespread pests in pear orchards.
David Rudell with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service tree fruit research center in Wenatchee discussed scalding and internal browning, which can occur as pears transition from outdoor orchard temperatures into cold storage facilities.
David Felicetti and Tim Pitz addressed decay management, and how it can differ for organic pears vs. conventional pears.
The session concluded with a panel discussion of pear growers with operations from Wenatchee in the north to Hood River, Oregon, in the south. Many of the concerns Shawn Cox, Ray Schmitten and Bruce Decker addressed dealt with pollination.
Pollinator problems are a key reason why average pear production has fallen from past levels of 45 to 50 bins an acre to 25 bins an acre in recent years, Cox said.
“Bosc and Bartlett pollinators are only 50% compatible with Anjous,” Cox added. “Yes, there is a cost to (placing) an extra hive, but it’s good insurance to make sure bees are there when the trees are in full bloom.”