8,000 tonnes of pears were harvested on Lake Constance last year. Compared to 226,000 tonnes of apples, this is still a very small quantity - but it is still around 12 percent more than in the previous year. And interest in growing pears is growing strongly among farmers in the region, according to the Lake Constance fruit sales organisation. Due to severe weather-related harvest losses in Spain and Italy, a gap has opened up in the market for German pears, which had previously led a shadowy existence on the market.
For farmers, getting into pear cultivation is financially attractive. "Pear prices are fairly stable, whereas farmers always have to worry about apples because the market is very crowded," says Manfred Büchele, Managing Director of the Lake Constance Competence Centre for Fruit Growing in Bavendorf near Ravensburg. "The climatic conditions here are very good for this. And for a few years now, there have also been great new varieties such as Xenia, Migo and Fred."
For more information:
www.obst-vom-bodensee.de
www.kob-bavendorf.de