Arias: Current Crop May Be Smaller, But Quality Remains

Pear Bureau Northwest released its first estimate of the 2024-25 fresh pear crop this week.  The expectation is for the crop to be down 31% from the five-year average.  While some of the most popular varieties, such as Bosc and Green Anjou reported a sizable dip, CarrieAnn Arias, President and CEO of Pear Bureau Northwest said they have a lot of irons in the fire to ensure consumers know about the great flavor of local pears.

"We recognize that the crop is smaller than it has been in the past, but there's definitely still commercial activity coming the consumer way we are still. We are still actively working on campaigns and social media that will support our business spending the shelf space that we have.  It's extremely important.”

Arias said the pear industry needs to be creative such as trying new varieties in retail   And she wants to figure out what the next steps are for pear consumers.

“I think that focusing on a lot of the research that we really need to have in order to understand today's consumer is going to drive the future and while we are not taking our foot off the gas completely this year to promote the 2025-26 season, it's going to look very, very different from a marketing perspective, from a brand positioning perspective, what pears are to consumers because we'll know more about the consumer,” Arias said.

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