The Pacific Northwest pear industry is forecasting a 2006 crop of 17.5 million boxes, down from 18 million boxes a year ago. At the annual pear meetings held in Portland, Oregon, on June 1, industry representatives compiled their first official 2006 crop estimates. The winter pear crop is forecast at 13.9 million boxes, down from 14.3 million boxes in 2005, and the summer/fall pear crop is likely to be 3.9 million boxes, close to the volume for 2005. Most of the reduction in winter pear production is in the Wenatchee district, whose crop could be down a million boxes from […]