Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/34759
Kevin Moffitt, president of Pear Bureau Northwest growers will pay 3.0 cents a box for committee operations and 3.1 cents a box for research, bringing the 2011 total assessment rate to 47.1 cents per box. For summer/fall pears, the rates are 3.5 cents for committee operations and 3.1 cents for research, for a total of 36.6 cents a box, which is unchanged from last year. Northwest pear pro- “As a grower, ducers are forecasting a winter pear crop of 15.1 million boxes for the com- ing season, up from 13.7 million boxes last year, but down from the 15.7 million produced in 2009. The Wenatchee district is fore- casting 6 million boxes of d’Anjou pears. The 2011 crop of Bartlett and other summer/fall pears is esti- mated at 3.9 million boxes, a 2 percent drop from last year. That would bring the combined summer, fall, and winter fresh pear production to 19.2 million boxes, an 8 percent increase over last year. The Pacific Northwest Canned Pear Service will also I am going to vote for not reducing the assessment rate.” —Craig Christensen collect a lower assessment for promotions in the coming year. The rate will be reduced from $7.11 per ton to $6.33 per ton. The Canned Pear Service plans to spend slightly more on promotions, but the number of staff has been cut from three to two, reducing the cost of managing and administering the program. At the annual meeting, manager Mark Miller pre- sented a budget of $759,000 for 2011-2012, which includes $355,000 for foodservice and Web promotions, $20,000 for promotions in Canada, and $100,000 for contingencies. Jay Grandy, who does statistical analysis for the Canned Pear Service, estimated that this year’s processed pear crop in Washington and Oregon would be around 126,000 tons, up from 124,000 tons in 2010, but said it was difficult to estimate accurately because of the lateness of this year’s growing season and variability from district to district. “Overall, I think it will be close to last year,” he said. “I think there will be more processed than last year because the growing season has been so cold and I don’t think we’ll get the size we’ve had in recent years.” • 10 JULY 2011 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com