Will Northwest pears bounce back from last year’s smaller crop?

While the official Northwest pear forecast won’t be released until September, indications in late August pointed to a crop that is consistent with the four-year average output.

That’s the perspective of Kevin Moffitt, president and CEO of the Pear Bureau Northwest.

Moffitt said Aug. 22 that the 2023 Northwest fresh pear crop could be in the 15.5 million carton range, which is about equal to the four-year average. 

The 2022 crop was initially forecast in September last year at just over 16 million cartons but ended up at just over 14 million cartons, Moffitt said. Snow during pollination hurt yields and led to some fruit drop in 2022, resulting in one of the smallest crops in 20 years, he said.

This year the harvest began for summer varieties like starkrimson and bartletts around Aug. 10, with growers expected to pick bosc, green and red anjou in early- to mid-September. Specialty pears like comice, seckel, forelle and concorde pears will also be available in September.

Growers initially thought the 2023 crop might be a bit late because of cool weather around blossom time in the spring. The cool weather resulted in a somewhat condensed pollination period, Moffitt said. However, temperatures heated up in the summer, and harvest timing is expected to be normal, he said.

Moffitt said the 2023 Northwest pear crop is expected to offer plenty of fruit for the domestic market as well as significant volume to export markets.

“It is a very promotable crop,” he said.

Last year the organic pear estimate accounted for 1.82 million cartons, or about 11% of the crop.

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For 2023, Moffitt estimated between 8% and 10% of the crop might be organic. Most organic pears are marketed domestically, he said, adding that perhaps 95% of exported organic pears are marketed to Canada, with light volumes also to Mexico and a few other countries.

Moffitt said that the Pear Bureau Northwest has been working with wholesalers with fresh-cut fruit operations near large school districts on the possibility of producing fresh-cut pears, particularly geared toward school foodservice uses. Schools are looking for produce like fresh-cut pears to use for lunches, he said.

Tests continue for optimizing the condition of fresh-cut pears with anti-brown agents such as NatureSeal, Moffitt said.

“We’re getting closer,” he said. “We have some formulations that we would recommend to wholesalers in conjunction with NatureSeal.”

Pear promotions

 The Pear Bureau Northwest has the overwhelming support of growers. In August, the USDA said pear producers in Washington and Oregon elected to continue their federal marketing order this year with a 99% approval vote.

Moffitt said the Pear Bureau Northwest will be attending the International Fresh Produce Association’s Global Produce & Floral Show, set for Oct. 19-21 in Anaheim, Calif. The event is a great point of connection with retailers, he said.

The Pear Bureau Northwest has three regional managers for the domestic market, and those representatives have been communicating with retail and foodservice buyers about the 2023-24 pear season. The regional representatives give retailers pear category information, allowing those retailers to see their performance compared with their competition.

Pear Bureau Northwest representatives identify potential areas of improvement for the retailers, Moffitt said.

“We really push for the omnichannel type of opportunities,” he said. For example, that may include a sampling or sales display contest, combined with work with supermarket dietitians on website messaging or sponsored searches for online grocer platforms.

Related: Fresh pear continuation referendum passes with 99% approval

Promoting pears in many ways at the same time is the goal, he said.

Pulling together fruit buyers, supermarket retail dietitians and a chain’s digital team isn’t easy when planning promotions, but Moffitt said an omnichannel approach can pay dividends if it can amplify pear promotion efforts.

“We’re really trying to pull a lot of the different aspects together at retail, so all the cylinders are [firing] at the same time and putting [promotions] into overdrive,” he said.

The Pear Bureau Northwest has stayed educated on digital approaches, starting with QR codes years ago, Moffitt said. QR codes in POS materials can still link to grower videos, and the group also has helped build “shoppable recipes” on online grocery platforms and on the Pear Bureau Northwest website, he said.

“I think we really advanced [digitally] during COVID, when we made the shift, beginning in May of 2020, when retailers were not doing sampling in stores,” he said. “People were starting to shop online, and so we jumped in pretty heavy duty starting then. We try to stay as up to speed on the digital side as possible, and it has paid off.”

Social media presence

Jim Morris, marketing communications manager, said the Pear Bureau Northwest's advertising efforts are mostly centered on social media. Last year social media efforts focused on the colorful attributes of pear varieties, with every variety assigned a personality. The engagement for the campaign was successful and the approach will be brought back, he said.

This year the Pear Bureau Northwest also will incorporate more education in the campaign, including nutritional information. The campaign will give consumers ideas on how to use pears in recipes at various levels of ripeness, Morris said.

The group will also use social media influencers on a regular cadence during the season, he said, including occasions such as World Diabetes Day.

Northwest pears have a heart health certification from the American Heart Association, Morris said, noting that February is American Heart Month and that message will be especially emphasized during that time. Morris said the Pear Bureau Northwest works with 12 to 20 social media influencers each season.

Moffitt said pears are appealing to a younger consumer base than decades ago.

“The core consumer is probably 25 to 45 years old,” he said. Not long ago, Moffitt said some were saying that pears were a fruit for "old people." That has changed, he said.

“I think in the last 10 to 12 years, we've seen the shift towards a younger population or a younger base of consumers," he said.

About 40% of U.S. households buy pears in any given year, and perhaps 15% of U.S. households are buying 80% of the pears purchased in the U.S., Moffitt said.

In addition, consumers who are heavy pear consumers are buying more pear varieties. An average consumer may buy one or two pear varieties a year, but some of the younger consumers are buying four to five varieties in a year, he said.

The Pear Bureau Northwest’s efforts are aiming to reach younger consumers through a digital outreach.

“Some of our advertising is a bit irreverent, and that resonates well with our younger group,” Moffitt said.

Morris said the Pear Bureau Northwest will offer consumers nine international recipes using pears on World Pear Day, which will be Dec. 2.

“Consumers are really interested in international recipes, and that is just one other way we’re ahead of the curve," he said.