Pear breeder Richard Bell (right) and horticulturist Ralph Scorza are pictured in 1999 while researching the effects of dwarfing genes on the growth of Bosc pears. The West Coast pear industry is asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture to move its pear breeding and genetics program from West Virginia to Washington State, to be closer to where most of the country’s commercial pears are produced. The request, which is being pursued by the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission, has the support of the Pear Bureau Northwest and the California Pear Advisory Board. Washington, Oregon, and California produce 97 percent of […]