Roger Pepperl, director of marketing for Stemilt Growers LLC in Wenatchee, WA, summed up the 2013-14 pear season. “It’s coming on fast,” he told The Produce News in late July. “We’ll start picking in mid-August. We might even be a little earlier than mid-August.”

Overall volume is expected to be up approximately 20 percent this season. “Bartletts will be up a little,” he stated. “Bosc will be up a lot. We have a good crop of Concordes. Anjous are going to be way up. It’s just a bigger crop.” In all, he expects Stemilt will market 2.2 million boxes of pears this season.

The company has acquired some new orchards. But overall, Pepperl said acreage has remained “roughly the same.”

In addition to its conventional pear, Stemilt produces and markets organic pears. “Organic volume is steady with some growth,” Pepperl stated. “This year, we’ll be up 7 to 8 percent.”

On the marketing side, Stemilt has seen great success with its “LIL SNAPPERS” brand of fruit for children. Four pear varieties are featured in the line with Bosc being the latest addition. “Kids like them,” Pepperl commented. “They’re crunchy.” Stand-up pouch bags are offered in the program, giving moms a chance to place bags on fridge shelves rather than have them buried in the produce bin. This easy access is one of the features that makes this program mom- and kid-friendly.

The branding program is important to the company, and children are receiving the positive message about the importance of consumption of fresh fruit.

“We’re getting future consumers on board,” Pepperl said. By snapping a QR code on packaging, mothers can obtain nutritional information about pears, and children can access printer-friendly coloring sheets.

Stemilt’s marketing programs for pears will include high-graphics tri-wall bins designed to increase retail sales and provide retailers with options for secondary display locations.

Pepperl said retailers who promote Pear A Rama displays on a monthly basis have seen increases in their per sales.

“The pear category still has room to grow,” Pepperl noted.

Pepperl said Stemilt is closely watching research efforts to find a substitute for oxytetracycline, which will not be authorized to control fire blight in organic pear and apple orchards after October 2014.

“They’re working fast to find a solution,” he stated. “Millions of dollars could be lost overnight. It just freaks us out.”