Pear supply lining up with demand for Oneonta Starr Ranch Growers

The 2022 pear crop supply should line up well with demand for Oneonta Starr Ranch Growers, says Dan Davis, director of business development.

“We’ve had some issues dealing with the spring cold temps, but other than that we’ve had a good growing season,” Davis said. The cold temperatures delayed harvest a couple weeks later than usual, he said. 

“Volume  will be slightly less than last year, but (there) is still a good volume of pears to work with,” Davis said. “Fruit size may be impacted slightly by those spring temps, but we’re just getting started with harvest so that remains to be seen in terms of just how much size will be down.”

Davis said the company’s conventional pear operations are primarily in Hood River, Ore.

“Our organics are out of the Yakima Valley predominantly,” Davis said, noting the company grows all the top commercial varieties, including green bartlett and anjou, red bartlett and anjou, bosc, forrelle, comice, starkrimson, seckel and a proprietary variety to our Hood River partners, GEM.

Balanced supply and demand

Davis said the pear outlook appears balanced.

“This year’s supply may be down and line up well with demand,” he said. “Last year was a larger crop for us and we saw some issues at points in the season on certain parts of the manifest with us having to push fruit into the market. This year should be a much more controlled supply that will help maintain price on behalf of our growers.”

Davis said marketers had logistical issues for many export markets last season. “We hope that settles somewhat for this season,” he said. 

In terms of packaging, Davis said Oneonta Starr Ranch Growers is offering paper catch weight totes that the company will be using for varietal pears. The totes worked well in small trials last season and Davis said the program will be expanded this season. “For merchandising it has worked really well and being variety specific really has added to incremental sales during the holiday season,” he said. 

The biggest challenge for growers, Davis said, is that inflation is impacting the break-even costs for growers.

“Cost of labor, corrugated, plastic, diesel, et cetera, are all increased and adding to the cost structure,” Davis said. “It’s a difficult burden that the grower has to bear first and we hope we can work with our retail partners this year to best recapture as much of this burden as possible. We know consumers are making choices with their produce dollar, but with pears we hope we’re able to provide them something that earns those dollars through durability and consistency.”

Davis said Northwest pear growers offer consumers a fantastic product.

“The health benefits and the taste of a good pear should continue to service consumers well,” she said.