After years of low prices and oversupply, pears are falling out of favour with Australians.

Now, some farmers are pulling out their trees.

Industry group Apple and Pear Australia Limited (APAL) estimates that about 10 per cent of pear trees have been uprooted this year as growers decide not to persist with the once-popular fruit.

APAL head of government relations and advocacy Jeremy Griffith said the public has fallen "a little bit" out of love with the pear, in a trend that has continued over the last decade.

According to APAL, the value of the pear industry has dropped from $175 million in 2011, to $67 million in 2020.

Ripe for change 

"When you go to the supermarket, pears are literally the only unripe product in the entire sector," APAL's Mr Griffith said.

"So you need to do something different with pears. you need to take them home [to ripen]," he said.

Supermarket data shows pears have become the "forgotten fruit" which aren't considered a fruit bowl staple anymore.

Consumer research from APAL shows that only 59 per cent of households purchase pears, on average every four weeks, compared to 93 per cent of shoppers buying bananas and 84 per cent buying apples.

Fruit Growers Victoria's Michael Crisera says there is a huge part of the population who don't regularly eat pears, and better marketing is needed to revive the fruit's popularity.

"Pears seem to be in favour among the older generation and the babies … we need to tap into the middle," Mr Crisera said.

'Down to our last block'

Six years ago, Jake Anderson returned to the Ardmona family farm in Central Victoria, in the heart of apple and pear growing country.

The 35-year-old, who has been forced to work three jobs to stay afloat on the farm, says he never imagined making a living from growing fruit would be this hard.

"We've put in crops of canola, leased some land to grow wheat and I'm doing contracting with our tractor to keep the farm in the family name."

"But it's a love-hate relationship."

The Goulburn Valley in Victoria produces 90 per cent of Australia's pears, but Mr Anderson and other growers have been rapidly removing pear trees.

"We've been growing pears since the early 1940s. I'm pretty we're down to our last block of pears now,

"Over the last six years we've pushed 50 per cent of our orchard out."

"We can't make it work – the profitability it not there.

Mr Anderson said the decline is driven by back-to-back years of low prices, an increase in the cost of labour, and low consumer demand.

"Last year the government introduced hourly hire rates instead of a piece rate," he said.

"Our great workers made great money, we used to see someone pick a bin in an hour and a half, and now it takes three hours."

"It's crazy how the industry has changed. To see much less orchards in this area is crazy."

More price transparency needed

Fruit Growers Victoria's Michael Crisera says there has been massive reduction in pears in the Goulburn Valley, and supermarkets are making it tough for farmers. 

"It's becoming more difficult to grow fruit profitably, especially pears because the prices are not there."

Mr Crisera said growers will continue to struggle to stay in the industry amid years of selling fruit below the price of production, and consecutive hail storms last year.

Around 80 per cent of Victorian fruit ends up in the supermarkets, with less than 10 per cent exported overseas.

"We are at the mercy of their [supermarket] prices," Mr Crisera said.

"The biggest issue we have as an industry is the tender process that the supermarkets use to get supply [which] is heavily weighted in their favour," he said.

"We would like to see much more transparency as to how they come up with their prices with suppliers.