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  • September 2011 Issue
  • Story by Richard Lehnert

    • Sticking with pears

    With 40 acres, that’s big for an eastern U.S. producer.

    Rood built this platform especially for removing fireblight strikes. Controls let him steer, brake, clutch, shift gears, and control acceleration. Shears or saw on a long pole are powered by air. (Richard Lehnert/Good Fruit Grower) There was a time when Michigan rivaled Oregon for third place in U.S. pear production, but a series of odd events ultimately brought out the bulldozers and reduced Michigan’s acreage from 10,500 in 1970 to about 800 today. Today, those acres are scattered over more than 200 farms—and Paul Rood, Jr., with 40 acres of Bartletts interspersed with a few Bosc, Kieffer, and Clapp’s Favorite […]

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    Production, Pest Management, Pears, Insects and mites, Diseases, Richard Lehnert
    Picture of Richard Lehnert
    Richard Lehnert
    After growing up on a Michigan dairy farm, Richard Lehnert began writing about farming in 1962, while still a junior studying journalism at Michigan State University. He worked at newspapers for a year before joining the staff of Michigan Farmer, where he spent 26 years, the last 15 as chief editor. He was a member of the staff of Good Fruit Grower from 2010 until 2015. Read his stories: Story Index
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