The harvesting of English pears started a little early this season and the picking window was contracted due to the hot weather, according to Sarah Calcutt from English Apples and Pears.
“I don’t have a final crop figure for the industry yet, my feeling is that we will be up on 2017, though fruit size was reduced due to water pressures,” explains Sarah. “We were anticipating a similar volume to 2016 but of a very high quality, especially in Conference.”
Irrigation makes all the difference in a water shortage year, the ability to manage crop size and reduce tree stress is only good for the long term; as with the continental crop the average British conference this year is small. Just like the apple crop, pears this season have great taste and a very good texture; this is due to the long, hot period of sunny weather with rain at just the right time.
The UK, just like almost every nation had a challenge with the difficult weather in the spring of 2017, and there were shortages in the lead up to the new 2018 harvested fruit, but Sarah expects some home-grown fruit to still be on the shelves to meet southern hemisphere fruit.
The UK grows predominantly Conference pears along with Comice and Concorde varieties. There is a lot of interest in new colour varieties, however the UK market place is very focused on Conference and at present UK growers are not growing enough of this variety to meet demand.
For more information:
Sarah Calutt
English Apples & Pears
Tel: +44 7767 783 891
Email: sarah@partnersinproduce.co.uk