D’Anjou pears from the 2015 harvest being packed in Peshastin, Washington. (TJ Mullinax/Good Fruit Grower)

Green Anjou will make up nearly 50 percent of the harvest this year. (TJ Mullinax/Good Fruit Grower file photo)

Pear growers in the Northwest expect to harvest their fourth largest crop ever, with an expected 20.2 million stand box equivalents, or 444,400 tons.

If the figure holds, it will surpass all but three other harvests, according to a news release Monday from Pear Bureau Northwest, the Portland, Oregon, based nonprofit agency that collectively promotes pears grown in Washington and Oregon under a federal marketing order.

The estimate, released on Aug. 1, also tops an early season prediction of 18.9 million boxes made by the industry in late June, the release said.

Green Anjou is expected to top the varieties with 9.9 million boxes, nearly 50 percent of the region’s harvest. Behind it will be Bartlett, Bosc and Red Anjou.

The organic pear crop is expected to be 2 million boxes, about 10 percent of the total.

Pick dates for the 2018-19 season are taking place roughly a week earlier than last season, staying close to the historical average, the release said.

Washington and Oregon produce about 88 percent of the fresh pears in the United States.