10/20/05 Pear crop update

Now Kevin Moffitt of Pear Bureau Northwest will tell you upfront his organization is not in the numbers game, but in the marketing aspects of the industry. But he can share that he has been hearing good news from growers and packers about the quantity of this year's crop. MOFFITT: We're expecting a crop that's probably thirteen per cent ahead of last year's in terms of total production on the fresh side. And that's about six per cent above a five year average. So it is a larger crop but definitely manageable. And that is not the only overall plus about this year's crop. Sizing of the crop is expected to benefit growers as a whole. MOFFITT: We do expect sizing to be slightly, maybe one size smaller in terms of the size manifest than last year, but a very good bell curve, frankly. We might peak on ninety size but then there will be a pretty good distribution of the smaller sizes and the larger sizes on either end of that. And while Pear Bureau Northwest traditionally has strong promotion programs, both domestically and internationally to move product, Moffitt says our region's pear growers this year are getting some help on the market supply end. MOFFITT: We also benefit from the fact that California's pear crop was short by almost thirty per cent. So they were quite short, and almost got out of the market sooner. They're almost finished of their sales of the California crop. They should finish up potentially two to three weeks earlier than normal. And the same with the California tree fruit, the soft fruit, peaches, plums, and nectarines.