Pear variety a first for Canada

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

by SUSAN MANN

The first commercial planting of the new Canadian-developed pear variety, Harovin Sundown, went into the ground this spring in the Niagara area.

Developed by Agriculture Canada, the new variety has a light green skin, firm flesh and unique sweetness.

Michael Ecker, president of Vineland Growers Cooperative, says the new variety has been tested in field trials for seven years and there is still three years of trials to go. It will take three years for the variety to reach mature production so “we’ll have our first commercial offering of the pear in 2014,” he says.

In 2009, the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre received the global marketing and commercialization rights for the Sundown pear and has been exploring marketing opportunities in Canada and around the world. Recently the centre and Vineland Growers Cooperative reached an agreement for the production of the new variety in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes.

For growers, the new variety has fire blight tolerance, winter hardiness and good post harvest storage life. Ecker says growers will harvest the pear in September or October and it will last in storage until the following February or March. As for yields, the yield tonnage of Sundown is almost double that of existing varieties, such as Bosc or Bartlett.

“By having more production per acre, the grower can make a little bit more money and not have to charge the consumer a whole bunch more,” Ecker says. “We think it’s a pear the grower can make money on and the consumer in Canada can afford to buy.”

The pear has a distinctive flavour, he adds, noting growers enjoy the pear’s flavour, yield, consumer acceptance and storage capabilities, which make it possible for them to offer Canadian pears longer in the year to consumers here.

“It gives Canadians a chance to eat more Canadian pears,” he explains.

Pear production in Ontario has declined to just below 900 acres from 2,500 acres in the late 1990s. The new variety will lead to an increase in pear production in the province, he says.

This is the first commercial pear variety ever developed in Canada. Most pear varieties were developed in Europe, Ecker says.  BF