Ordinarily, the trees are lightly pruned each year. Pears are grown in essentially all states of United States, but California, Oregon and Washington account for the bulk of the commercial production.The Bartlett pear is the most important variety, both for consumption as fresh ad for preservation by canning. Pears do not ripen successfully in the tree and are harvested while still green. They are transported to processing plants in lug boxes or pallet bins, latter holding about 1000 lb (453.6) of fruits.
At the processing plant, pears are washed in weak acid or alkaline solutions to remove spray residues. They then washed in water, drained and inspected to remove defective specimens.
They are also usually graded for size, especially if they are to be canned, before placing in storage. Pears to be sold as fresh are cooled to 30 - 32 degree F and stored at this temperature pears have a storage of 2 – 7 months depending on variety.
The storage life of pears may be extended by about 3 months by regulating the oxygen content of the storage atmosphere to 2.5% and the carbon dioxide content to 5%. Pears that are overripe when picked are subject to scald and core breakdown during storage. Pears to be used as fresh fruits are ripened at 60 – 70 degree F prior to or during shipment. After they are ripened, they should be held at 32 – 35 degree F until processed or sold to the consumer.
World wide, China is the largest pear producing country, followed by Italy. The United States is the third largest pear producer in world. 30% of United States fresh pear is shipped top foreign markets. There are 81 countries commercially produced pears on 4.3 million acres.
Pears Production
