25 Years for a Single Variety… Bringing the Green Pear ‘Seolwon’ into the World

How long does it take for a pear variety to come into the world. Researcher Jeong Hae-won of the Pear Research Center at the National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science, Rural Development Administration, gave a concise answer.

“It takes roughly 25 years.”

From crossbreeding to line selection, selection of superior lines, regional adaptation trials, and distribution to farms. It is not over just because development is finished. He said it takes another 10~15 years for the name to become known in the market.

He said, “Fruit tree varieties take such a long time that it is not something private companies can do. That is why a national institution does it,” adding, “Some items such as strawberries are bred at provincial agricultural research and extension services, but among fruit trees, pears take an especially long time, so research is conducted only at the Pear Research Center.”

In the meantime, the people who began the development usually retire or move to other departments. Researcher Jeong explained, “Seolwon is like that, too. It has been about 10 years since I came to the breeding lab, and it is a variety whose development was completed around that time by the person I first met here. I took it over and now play the role of creating new varieties, and distributing the varieties that have been created.” Met at the Pear Research Center in Naju, South Jeolla Province, he is in charge of distributing three varieties, including the green pear ‘Seolwon’ as well as ‘Supergold’, ‘Greensis’ and others.

Green skin is actually common
When people think of pears, they think brown. That was the kind of pear placed on ancestral rite tables and packed in gift sets. So green pears are unfamiliar to consumers. But he said the situation in the breeding field is the exact opposite.

Researcher Jeong said, “When you do crossbreeding, the proportion of brown skin(peel) is actually low, and green is common. Breeding has continued since the 1950s, and Hwanggeumbae, which came out in the 1980s, is also a green variety,” adding, “Since then, we have continued to use this line for breeding, and as a result, many high-sugar individuals were selected among green pears. Statistically, green varieties with excellent eating quality were bound to emerge.”

Still, entering the market was a separate issue. The place that worried him the longest was the wholesale market. He said, “Wholesale markets tend to be somewhat conservative. Because of consumer perceptions and preferences, the market also wants brown pears. So we developed it amid concerns over whether green pears could enter this market,” and, smiling brightly, added, “But the recent trend has shifted toward ‘as long as it tastes good,’ and fortunately, because the flavor is so good, wholesale markets are also giving this variety favorable reviews.” The concerns were refuted by numbers. In a marketability assessment by wholesale distributors last September, Seolwon received 90% or more ratings of excellent or higher in the overall evaluation.
 

The three things producers want
His view is that the key to distribution ultimately lies with producers. “If producers do not like it, it cannot be distributed,” he said flatly.

He said the characteristics desired by farms that have long cultivated Niitaka can be distilled into three things. First is fruit weight. Researcher Jeong said, “For pears, thinning fruit and bagging them still require labor on a per-fruit basis. Since prices are set by the kg, producers want heavier fruit.”

Next is the flowering period. Recently, the biggest weather risk in Niitaka cultivation has been low-temperature damage during flowering, but Seolwon flowers 5~7 days later than Niitaka, allowing it to avoid low temperatures in terms of timing.

Last is storability. He emphasized, “There is a level of storability consumers expect from pears. Even when they go to wholesale, pears remain there longer than other fruits. They need to have no problems for at least a week at room temperature for producers to sell them with confidence. Seolwon’s flesh firmness itself is about 1.5 times higher than that of Niitaka, so there are relatively few such concerns.”

However, there is a gap between the large fruit producers want and the size the market wants. MDs(merchandisers) who participated in the retail distributor evaluation called for the development of small-fruited varieties, saying, “large-fruited varieties themselves are a factor that depresses the pear industry.” Researcher Jeong was aware of this point as well. The varieties being prepared as the next contenders are ‘Climate 1’ with a fruit weight of 300~400g and ‘Joyskin’(about 320g), a variety registered in 2016 that can be eaten with the skin on.

The walls blocking varietal renewal
Nevertheless, varietal conversion is slow. He said, “It is difficult to tell farmers lightly that they should change varieties.” There are broadly three stumbling blocks. First, because pear farmers are aging and continuity in cultivation is being broken, there are many cases where there is no will to renew. Next are cases in which many are tenant farmers and do not have decision-making authority in the first place. The last is location. Researcher Jeong said, “Compared with apples or sweet persimmons, pears are often planted on flat land, so they frequently overlap with development zones. When development is said to be coming, there is a strong tendency to sell the orchards.” On top of this, the fact that renewing trees cuts off income for about 5 years is also a burden.

That is why he focuses his efforts on successor farmers and young farmers, as well as farms that want to produce delicious pears. He explained, “One farm in Naju that cultivates 20ha said, ‘I do not eat the Niitaka I produce because I myself find it tasteless, someone has to change it,’ and began varietal conversion in 2016. He believed that only a farm of his scale could endure the economic gap period. The trees renewed then are now bearing fruit.”

This farm has been taken over by the son, who sells the entire volume directly through an online shopping mall. He said, “Even if the wholesale market does not recognize it, consumers come to know it first, and then, in reverse, the wholesale market starts looking for supply. We get calls asking for Supergold or Seolwon if there is any available.”

Using skin corking as a marketing tool
The biggest challenge for green pears, including Seolwon, is corking, in which the skin surface turns brown. In fact, in the wholesale distributor evaluation, skin color was the only item that did not receive a single ‘excellent’ response.

Researcher Jeong said, “We are trying to use this characteristic as a marketing strategy. If it looks like this, you can recognize it as Seolwon or Supergold. When the cork layer covers the entire skin, that is a brown pear. There is absolutely no problem with the flesh.”

He also pointed out matters to note in cultivation. He said, “The reason producers like Niitaka the most is that it is easier to cultivate than other varieties. It has good flower bud retention, so two flower buds form on each fruiting branch, and therefore fruiting branches are used for up to 6~7 years. Labor is saved because there is no need to train new fruiting branches during winter pruning,” adding, “New varieties including Seolwon have 1~1.5 flower buds, so they must be used for 3~4 years and then trained again.”

30-year-ahead research
Separate from immediate distribution, his laboratory is looking 30 years ahead. That is why distribution and development are operated on two tracks. The first axis is responding to warming. He introduced, “Pears must be exposed during winter to temperatures of 7.2℃ or below for 1500 hours in order to flower and set fruit normally the following year. But because of abnormal climate conditions, that period is shortening. In 30~40 years it could become even shorter. The variety developed in preparation for this, ‘Climate 1’, flowers without problems with only 800~1000 hours.” It is a variety whose development has already been completed.

The second axis is fire blight, the biggest issue facing the pear industry. There are still no resistant varieties commercialized among domestically cultivated varieties, so development is underway. The final axis is color. Following green pears, they are developing varieties with red skin·red flesh. Researcher Jeong explained, “Domestic genetic resources do not have red coloration, but red skin exists in Chinese pears, and red flesh exists in the West. We are using those for crossbreeding. High sugar content and attractive fruit shape are taken as basics, and new traits are added on top of that.”

A bachelor’s graduate who majored in life sciences, he joined the Rural Development Administration in 2016 and, while balancing work and study, went on to earn a Ph.D. in horticulture. He is passing through a period in which the pear cultivation area has been shrinking for 20 years and the consumer base is being shaken over the long term. Asked whether he finds it regrettable, Researcher Jeong said, “It is regrettable, but since so many more delicious fruits are coming in, there are aspects that cannot be helped. In the end, we have no choice but to create pears that consumers will want even in everyday life,” adding that he expects, “If just the two varieties Seolwon and Supergold are released into the market, the frequency with which people seek out pears and their perception of pears will change.”