In this installment of the ‘Agronometrics In Charts’ series, Colin Fain illustrates how the U.S. market is evolving. Each week the series looks at a different horticultural commodity, focusing on a specific origin or topic visualizing the market factors that are driving change.

If you don't look carefully you might miss it. In the top right corner of the chart below there are three light blue dots that are so far above the rest of the prices that they might go unnoticed. 

These are Stark Crimson pears, a red variety characterized as aromatic, juicy, and sweet with a floral essence.

Pear Prices (USD/Kilo) | Non-Organic

(Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics. Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

High prices for Stark Crimson aren’t unusual. But this year the prices are even greater than last year, which already had the highest prices for this variety since 2010.

Historic Stark Crimson Pear Prices (USD/Kilo) | Non-Organic

(Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics. Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

With prices reporting out of California, it is interesting to tie a relationship between the prices being reported and the volumes for this variety. 2019 and 2020 both were late starting seasons which could help account for the higher pricing observed these last two years.

If week 31 is indicative of how the rest of the season for California will develop, it's possible that these higher prices could be maintained.

Historic Pear Volumes from Northern California | Non-Organic

(Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics. Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

As a last note to leave you on, it was interesting to learn from the Usapears.com website that in 1956, this beautiful red pear was patented and propagated by Stark Brothers Nursery, hence the name Starkrimson.

In our ‘In Charts’ series, we work to tell some of the stories that are moving the industry. Feel free to take a look at the other articles by clicking here.

You can keep track of the markets daily through Agronometrics, a data visualization tool built to help the industry make sense of the huge amounts of data that professionals need to access to make informed decisions. If you found the information and the charts from this article useful, feel free to visit us at www.agronometrics.com where you can easily access these same graphs, or explore the other 20 fruits we currently track.