The 2012 Northwest pear crop won’t be as large as last year’s record-breaker but it should still be impressive.
About 19.3 million boxes of fresh-market pears are expected to be harvested this summer and fall in Washington and Oregon, 6% fewer than the 2011 crop but 2% higher than the five-year average, according to a news release from the Milwaukie, Ore.-based Pear Bureau Northwest.
If projections hold, the 2012 crop would be the fifth-largest on record.
By variety, green anjou and bosc volumes should be down in the 2012-13 season, and bartletts and starkrimsons up. Green anjou volumes are projected to fall 9% and boscs 14% from 2011, and bartletts to increase by 4% and starkrimsons by 5%.
Green anjous should account for about 54% of the total 2012 crop, bartletts 21% and boscs 15%.
Harvest should begin in early August, with starkrimsons the first variety out of the gate. Bartletts will follow later in the month, and anjous, boscs, comices, concordes, forelles and other varieties in September and October.
As of June 7, no significant weather issues had affected fruit growth, and quality looked excellent, according to the bureau.
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