The Pacific Northwest Canned Pear Service set its 2026–27 budget lower than previous years but still dipped into reserves to keep promotions relatively stable.
Though the industry is facing tough times, board members who met in Yakima on April 23 said they believed things would be worse without promotions and didn’t want to lose any momentum with K–12 schools and other institutional purchasers of canned pears.
“As ugly as this may be, I think we’ve really slowed down what that curve could be otherwise,” said Jon Holt of Neil Jones Food Co., the last pear processor based in the Northwest, after Del Monte Foods’ bankruptcy and closure of its Yakima, Washington, facilities last year.
The board set the 2026–27 spending budget at $322,000. Assessments will cover only part of that; about $153,000 will come from reserves. The budget is about 18 percent less than the 2025–26 budget, which is expected to hit $392,000 this year.
The budget is based on a projected 2026 processing volume of 25,000 tons, which is down from 34,000 tons in 2025 due to the loss of Del Monte. A lot of last year’s inventory is still in storage.
Allison Boyer, promotions director for the canned pear service, plans to tighten the belt by skipping college and university food service trade shows and trying to piggyback at trade shows with canning companies such as Neil Jones and Pacific Coast Producers in California. The Pacific Northwest Canned Pear Service is operated by the Washington State Fruit Commission, which also publishes Good Fruit Grower.
The board members also discussed seeking new forms of revenue. They are eyeing federal grants, advocating for another Section 32 bonus purchase by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for food bank and school district distribution, and continuing discussions with California canned pear industry members about seeking contributions.
Canned pears aren’t usually branded by state, and all three states covered by the pear service promotions — Washington, Oregon and California — have been removing pear acreage to deal with the canning contraction.
Also on April 23, the Processed Pear Committee, which collects assessments for research and promotions under a federal marketing order, left the Northwest assessment rate at $7.50 per ton. •
