Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/43042
Pears Marketing HOW MANY PEARS can the market take? Retailers are not even close to maximizing their pear sales, the Pear Bureau's regional managers say. by Geraldine Warner M ost fresh pears nowadays are still grown on old trees in long-established orchards. But if, through research, the Pacific North- west pear industry were able to start grow- ing pears more efficiently in intensive orchards with trees on dwarfing rootstocks, would there be a market for all the additional fruit? "We're limited now to where we grow pears and lim- ited to the rootstock that we have," Pat Burnett, a pear grower in Washington's Wenatchee Valley, remarked dur- ing the Pear Bureau Northwest's annual meeting last summer. "Most of our pear growers are raising pears on trees that are 40 years old. What happens when we double our production?" he asked the Pear Bureau's regional man- agers. "Is there a place out there for many more pears, or are we going to drive people out of business?" The Pacific Northwest pear industry was expecting to harvest 19.2 million boxes of fresh pears this season, which is 5 percent over the five-year average. Kevin Moffitt, Pear Bureau president, said the bureau is working hard to increase awareness and consumption of pears around the world, but it will be a gradual process. Ripe pears Dennis Kihlstadius, the Pear Bureau's ripening con- sultant, said per-capita pear consumption in the United States is well below the levels in other countries, such as the United Kingdom and Canada, and he believes that more displays of ripe pears in retail stores would prompt people to eat more pears. Consumers don't want to take pears home and wait four or five days for them to ripen, and if they get pears that don't ripen at all, they will not go back to buy more. Pat Burnett is a pear grower in the Wenatchee Valley of Washington State. And, he said, the industry hasn't even scratched the surface in terms of the foodservice market. If each restau- rant offered a salad with a pear in it, that would boost consumption dramatically. The limiting factor, however, is that chefs want ripe pears to work with. Bob Koehler, the Pear Bureau's regional manager for the Northeast United States and Canada, said the top retail chains are far from maximizing their pear sales and felt that better displays could help. According to the Pear Bureau, the top 35 retailers do 80 percent of the business. "If we could get 15 of them to do what they can really ORCHARD REPLANT DISEASE AND NEMATODE CONTROL with Telone* C-17 soil fungicide and nematicide (includes chloropicrin) CUSTOM ORCHARD FUMIGATION Len England/Dale England/Chris Ford 509 687-9572 Len, cell: 509-679-7124 Dale, cell: 509-860-9058 Chris, cell: 509 366-5180 customorchardfumigation@live.com 968 Lloyd Road • Manson, WA 98831 22 OCTOBER 2011 GOOD FRUIT GROWER *TRADEMARK OF DOW AGROSCIENCES LLC www.goodfruit.com Schedule your application OD application TODAY! geraldine warner