All good points and we know commercial growers frequently remove leaves and branches to get ripening fruit more light. Many maintain open centers for my light. Pruning is a full time management job for many orchards. This is great information When Pruning Pears theres a lot to learn - Brindilla, Tira savia, Chicken Paw to name a few terms
Lets go back to the home orchardist for a minute. They have a 8 feet area 40 feet long to plant pears. Think it would be safe to say standards in that situation will always yield more. They need to go up not out! The neighbors might not like the shade being cast on them in that example. Here is an example of a row of my standard pear trees. Kansas has lots of sun so keep in mind it is not Europe where the skies are overcast frequently. It is drier here than some places with about 34" annual rainfall. Spring rains and fall rains are most of that moisture.
