Pear Growers Get Good News Despite Cannery Closure

The Northwest produces nearly 88% of all U.S. fresh pears, but on the canned side, the August closure of the Yakima Del Monte cannery left many growers unsure about the future.  But Pear Bureau Northwest president and CEO CarrieAnn Arias said an out-of-cycle purchase by USDA was a big help.  That Section 32 buy means those pears are now bound for schools and foodbanks.

Arias says USDA’s timing couldn’t have been better.

“We had an extra special one happen, which was about 500 loads of Bartletts, which is unprecedented," Arias said.  "It happened very, very quickly. The administration worked really closely with us and Northwest Hort Council to help us make that happen, which certainly is going to alleviate some of the pressure that those pears that would have typically gone to the canary would have on overall prices.”

And with this large crop, Arias says the unexpected buy was just what Northwest growers needed.

“Econ 101 says that your prices are going to go down because your volume is up, but if you think we hadn’t had the administration work so quickly to help us alleviate some of that pressure, it would be a much more challenging situation than it is already with a crop that’s almost double from last year’s crop,” she said.

Arias noted the 2025 Northwest pear crop is expected to be around 19 million boxes, quite a bit larger than 2024’s 10 million.

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