The outlook seems positive for the Northwest canning pear industry going into the 2013 season. The industry is expecting to process 120,000 tons of Northwest pears, down from 126,000 tons last year, and canners’ inventories are at the lowest level in several years, reports Jay Grandy, manager of the Washington-Oregon Canning Pear Association. “We had a big pack, but we shipped a lot and inventories are low,” Grandy said during the annual meeting of the Processed Pear Committee in Portland, Oregon, in May. “It’s very positive right now.” Another positive development is that the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which typically […]