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Last year, a historic deep freeze has shrunk American pear production, in which Northwest growers have expected the smallest crop in 40 years.
Producers saw only one crop Two-thirds larger than last year, 31% below the average of five years. BOSC crop, which is popular for its firm, dense meat for baking is ideal, will have to face the worst damage More than 60% percent from last year.
About 80% of the country’s pears come Answer -WestAnd experts are saying that consumers should brace for less fruits on the shelves of the grocery store.
John Davani, president of the Washington State Tree Fruit Association, said, “Surely there is still a north -western pear crop, but it was quite small as a result of that damage.”
The pears that make it are expected of “russet”, which manifests as a large brown ring around the fruit, whose flowers were damaged by frost. The taste is the same, but their presence may be closed for buyers.
Davney said, “Consumers eat before their eyes, before getting anything else.” “If it did not look attractive in the store, [the fruit] Either you will not sell at all, or will sell at such a discount that producers cannot pay it for the crop. ,
This problem may deteriorate in the coming years. research shows Pear production is especially weak for climate changeAs fruit is Sensitive Rain and temperature.
Another issue is looking out for stakeholders, in the last three decades, the time of flowering in pear, about 11 days earlier, is likely to be due to temperature changes, compared to historical data, Study from Agri-Navarmenal Research Center in United Kingdom was foundEven a few weeks margin in flowering time can “cause all types of cascading management issues beyond the short -term risk of actual physical damage,” Davni said.
Davney said, “The growers know the weather to watch very carefully and try to get ready, but he said that when they expect to start the spring season, they really know that many people now technical now technical Research for solutions is moving to the rapidly unpredictable weather.
For example, Washington State University kept more than 160 weather stations To give producers around the state’s current weather data and short -term forecasting, and to help them make timely decisions. And, The university is working with artificial intelligence on data modeling to create better long -term predictions For extended forecasts, therefore tree fruit growers have more options and more warnings to apply protective measures.
However, additional hope is also coming from the current unfolding weather conditions and Davney is called “productive intuition”. Noaa was predicting In the beginning of 2025, more cooled than normal and wet threatens to repeat the disastrous consequences of 2024. But, while the weather has become more wet than normal, it is so far hot, which is usually good for pear.
“It is making very important predictions for the year. A lot of productive intuition is that whenever you have a small crop, usually the next year, trees may have a large crop on them, so hopefully the crop will turn.
