US (OR): Rogue Valley pear harvest back on schedule
Now, Matt Borman, who oversees nearly 1,700 acres of Royal Riviera brand Comice pears for Harry & David, wants to make sure no pear is left behind before a change of seasons brings rain.
"My hope is that we're finishing up early in the first week of October," Borman said Tuesday afternoon. "There's potential wet weather in October, and we don't want to be picking then. So we're not going to go slow and take a chance. At the moment, the next three-week projection looks pretty good. Beyond that, it's a guessing game, and I won't be comfortable until it's all in the barn."
Hailstorms were relatively scarce this year, but one Break Creek based block of orchards got hit in July.
"The thing about hail is that it can happen in little pockets," Borman said. "It was one of those late storms that peppered the fruit and the hail was large enough to leave some marks; it was that orchard's turn."
The valley growers began harvest in mid-August and are now harvesting Comice.
Following a bumper 2011 crop, growers across the Pacific Northwest estimated about a 15 percent reduction in tonnage this year. Fruit size, on the other hand, has been better.
Source: mailtribune.com
