Life of an Asian pear breeder
This Taiwanese-bred Asian pear variety took Liu Shenquan, now 74 years old, 22 years to develop. One of the few Asian pear cultivars bred independently by a pear farmer, it currently dominates the pear market in Taiwan. It has won popularity with consumers thanks to its large size and delicate flesh, and many pear farmers have switched over to growing it.
Earlier in his life Liu worked as a mechanic, repairing motorcycles and electrical appliances. Because he was constantly busy and was under a lot of stress, at age 38 he decided to buy a pear orchard, and that marked his entry into the world of Asian pears.
Asian pear trees grow best at low temperatures, and for pear scions (shoots with buds, used for grafting) to flower and produce fruit they have to be exposed to low temperatures for a sufficient length of time. Back in the day Taiwan depended on imports of pear scions from Japan or China, and farmers would graft these onto rootstocks of Hengshan pear, an Asian pear variety traditionally grown in Taiwan, as this was the only way to grow temperate-zone pears at low elevations.
However, the quality and supply of imported scions remained unreliable, and Liu thought that Taiwan should be able to produce its own scions, so he decided to dedicate himself to breeding work.
Lacking any plant breeding experience himself, Liu asked for help from the Taichung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station, where he learned about fruit breeding. Moreover, he turned his entire orchard into an experimental farm. Using Xinxing pear trees as the maternal plants, he pollinated them with pollen from multiple varieties to produce seedlings, which he again grafted and screened. From among more than 1,000 different hybrids, he finally selected Baodao Ganlu.
For an Asian pear seedling to grow into a mature tree and begin fruiting takes seven or eight years. For a long time, Liu’s family depended entirely on the earnings his wife made working in the food and beverage industry. Then, on September 21, 1999, the Jiji Earthquake struck Central Taiwan.
Liu recalls that his house was split in half by the quake, and many of his pear trees had to be removed so the authorities could shore up a stream that ran in front of his house. For a while he thought about giving it all up, but he finally decided to persevere, and supported himself and his family by selling some of his land.
Today Liu’s pears are very popular, but the fact is that he almost missed out on discovering the Baodao Ganlu variety.
Liu Shenquan transformed himself from a motorcycle mechanic and appliance repairman to “Grandpa Pear,” dedicating more than 20 years of his life to breeding the Baodao Ganlu pear.
Lin Hsin-shan, chairman of the Integrated Agricultural Development Foundation, encouraged and assisted Liu Shenquan in acquiring plant variety rights for the Baodao Ganlu pear.