STORY: A group of climate scientists in Belgium is currently investigating what the pear of the future might look like.
“…the pears tend to be less firm and have more sugar.”
:: THIS EARTH
:: Maasmechelen, Belgium
In the Belgian province of Limburg, the country’s pear-growing heartland, an unusual orchard stands out: it is made of a cluster of 12 transparent domes.
“It’s called an ‘Ecotron’, which is a climate change stimulator.”
Inside the domes, researchers grow pears in an environment that mimics how climate change will affect the region in 2040.
Their goal? To understand the effects of climate change on Europe’s fruit growers.
Here is Francois Rineau, docent at the University of Hasselt.
“So for 2040 it’s actually tomorrow, it’s only 20 years, but still we see differences in the frequency of heat waves. So more frequent heat waves, more frequent droughts, more intense precipitation events, so therefore even less precipitation overall and increasing CO2 concentration.”
The three-year experiment will include three harvests.
This year’s crop of 2040-era pears is being studied at the Flanders Center of Postharvest Technology (VCBT).
Scientists compare them to pears grown in domes that simulate today’s climate.
Here is Dorien Vanhees, researcher at VCBT.
“So we’re measuring different things in this lab. We’re measuring sugar content or firmness, we’re also measuring how big those pears are, coming from the future and the current climate. And we’re seeing that if we have a higher temperature on the trees, that the pears tend to be less solid and have more sugar.”
And that’s bad news for growers, because it reduces the amount of pears they can sell.
“More sugar is good for flavor. Less firm is not good for storage, because when you store them at a lower firmness, they won’t last as long. For growers, this will reduce the amount of pears they can put on the market.”
Climate change is already taking its toll on growing patterns across Europe.
In recent years, extreme weather events such as devastating floods, hailstorms and droughts have taken their toll on pear growers.
This year, Belgium’s pear production is expected to drop by a staggering 27%, according to the World Apple and Pear Association, highlighting the need to adapt to a changing climate.