03/23/05 Pear marketing for 2005 and 2006?

This is the time of year U.S.A. Pears is under a crunch. Not only are they making their last big push to sell the 2004 crop, but according to U.S.A. Pears' Kevin Moffitt, plans begin in earnest on how to market the 2005 crop for the 2005-2006 marketing season. MOFFITT: That makes this time of year kind of doubly hectic for us in sense. Right now, we're guessing at what the crop might be. We have to base the budget on that sort of guess. We present our budget and activities to our board on the 21st of April. But that guessimation on the budget, is based on guessimation of the size of the crop, leaving for revisions come May. MOFFITT: But in the meantime, we give our domestic field staff directions in April as well. They actually start taking to the retailers about next year as early as this May and June period, so retailers do a lot of their planning six months or more ahead of time any more so you really got to be talking to them early to get locked into key periods in the next season. Meaning traditional promotion times for U.S.A. Pears such as back-to-school, Thanksgiving and Christmas, and the spring time holidays. MOFFITT: So it's very important for us to make our best guesses, develop some good strong programs, and then really get out there and get in front of the retailer, even this late spring  early summer, in order to lock down next year.