LAKE COUNTY – Lake County's Bartlett pear harvest is well under way, and so far pear quality and the quantity of labor appear to be working in the favor of pear farmers.
Rachel Elkins, the pomology farm advisor for Lake and Mendocino counties, said the harvest is in full swing.
“This will be a big week,” she said.
Some farmers who didn't prune their trees as heavily are reporting smaller fruit growing on younger wood, said Elkins.
“As the picking goes on the size gets better,” Elkins said.
She added, “The fruit is very nice looking.”
Labor doesn't appear to be as short as it was for growers last year, according to the reports Elkins has received. She added, however, that there appears to be more novice pickers and fewer workers who are experienced.
The Agricultural Commissioner's Office shared with Lake County News some preliminary numbers on pear acreage from the upcoming county crop report for 2006.
The report shows a total of 2,240 bearing pear acres, with 2,092 of those in Bartlett pears.
The total pear acreage in previous years, according to recent years' crop reports, is as follows: 3,024 in 2002; 2,764 in 2003; 2,557 in 2004; 2,482 in 2005.
“Every year it's down a little bit more,” said Elkins.
Elkins has been busy in the orchards with her harvest-related research. Beginning last week, she worked with organic pear farmer Lars Crail on an innovative way to harvest the 20 acres of organic pears he and wife Maile Field farm in Finley.
This is the third season that Crail has used a mechanical pear harvester imported from Spain in his orchard.
The harvester moves slowly through the orchard and features platforms where workers can stand and pick the pears at eye level. Pears are set on a conveyor belt and placed in a bin; when the bin becomes full, it is quickly switched onto a trailer that follows the harvester, allowing the workers to keep up a steady pace.
Pear picking has mostly been the territory of young, strong men scrambling up and down ladders carrying heavy bags of pears. The harvester allows workers who normally wouldn't have taken part in picking to work in the orchards.
Elkins said the harvester's mounted lighting allowed a pear crew to work at night last Thursday and Saturday, which makes for cooler conditions and was pleasant for the pickers, she said.
Crail, who became fascinated with the idea of mechanization in the orchard several years ago, said the harvester's gentler handling of fruit benefits his organic crop.
Elkins said Crail's harvest is now finished, but the largest pear farmers are still in full swing, and likely won't be finished with picking for about 10 more days.
When orchard workers finish here in Lake County, they'll begin moving north to Hood River, Ore., and Yakima, Wash., for the apple harvest, Elkins said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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