STATUS OF THE PEAR PRODUCTION IN EUROPE

After a period of expansion of the global European pear production there is a stabilisation of the production during the last decade between 2.0 and 2.5 million ton. There are important differences in evolution of the pear growing area between the different European countries, while the pear growing area is increasing strongly during the last years in the Netherlands and in Belgium, the situation has stabilised in the mean pear production countries Italy and Spain. In France and Greece there was a strong decrease in pear growing area in the same period, mainly due to problems of infections with the bacterial disease fire blight caused by Erwinia amylovora on ‘Passe Crassane’ and ‘Kristalli’. The appearance of the new fungal disease ‘Brown Spot’ caused by Stemphylium vescicarium aswell in the northern countries Belgium and the Netherlands as in the Southern countries is a new risk factor with an important possible impact on the total pear production. Near the older standard pear cultivars ‘Williams B.C.’ and ‘Abate Fetel’ there is an increasing interest in ‘Conference’ as mean pear cultivar in most of the pear producing countries. The introduction of the red skin pear cultivars was not a success and there is a strong need for a new pear cultivar. This new pear cultivar should have a good and early productivity, a storage capacity of at least 6 months and the capacity of a parthenocarpic fruit set. This last aspect is an important criterion for pear production area where frost occurs regularly.