Production of pears in Canada

Canada’s cultivated area for pears has dropped roughly by half since the late 1990s.

 

 

The decline in area under cultivation is primarily the result of urban encroachment on orchards, negative growth in consumption, and the pear processing industry’s downsizing.

 

 

Ontario, with 526 hectares dedicated to pear cultivation in 2009/10, continues to account for roughly two-thirds of Canada’s commercial pear production. British Columbia, with 243 hectares under cultivation, is Canada’s second largest pear producing province.

 

 

Statistics Canada estimates that the cultivated area for pears in 2009/10 will drop from 1,161 hectares reported in 2008/09 to about 864 hectares, or by over 25 percent. Similarly, Canada’s pear bearing area is expected to drop by nearly 28 percent from 1,095 hectares to 791 hectares in 2009/10.

 

 

The drop in cultivated area for pears is largely due to CanGro’s January 2008 announcement that it would close its St. Davids, Ontario, canning facility – the last fruit canner in the province and the only Canadian cannery east of the Rockies.

 

 

Post estimates that Canadian pear output will fall from the 2008/09 level of 9,564 MT to about 7,600 MT in 2009/10, or by almost 21 percent due to the CanGro decision. Ontario’s production alone will likely drop from 4,082 MT to about 2,500 MT in 2009/10.