Pear Outlook Pt 1
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. The pear crop here in the Pacific Northwest looks to be a little light and a little late.
For the fourth year in a row, the crop looks to be lighter than the record year growers enjoyed in 2013 ...
KEVIN MOFFITT ... "Well, we've just had our very first estimates, conducted at the Pear Bureau annual meetings, and first estimates are coming in about 2 percent below last year's crop production and about 10 percent below our five-year average. So, it is slightly below where we were last year."
Pear Bureau Northwest president Kevin Moffitt says weather, as it does every year, played a key role in this year's crop ...
KEVIN MOFFITT ... "Well, it seems to be the matter of the hot summer last year and maybe a little bit from the cold winter we had this year. And, those two things combined, perhaps stressed the trees a bit more than usual.
We had a bigger drop of the fruit after the fruit set and that is definitely the reason we're having less fruit on the tree, but I think it was the hot summer and, perhaps, this cold winter as well combined and the crops coming in slightly smaller."
Moffitt says the news isn't terrible, just lower ...
KEVIN MOFFITT ... "Nothing catastrophic. There'll be plenty of fruit. In fact, we're projecting 17, almost 18 million boxes of pears this year versus 18 million last year."
Moffitt says that means plenty of pears for both domestic and key foreign markets.
Listen tomorrow for more on the numbers and how the different varieties seem to be fairing.
