I’ve been growing pears in S. NY for about 30 years at many sites- mostly between 20 and about 70 miles north of the city, my own orchard being in Putnam County away from the direct influence of the Hudson River some of my customers benefit from.
The three most important pears in Hudson Valley commercial production n this order are Bartlett, Bosc and Seckel. Of those, Bartlett is the one most likely to produce with few pest problems, but a lot depends on the site because pest pressure varies a great deal.
Fireblight rarely kills pears here or has in the last 30 years, but I read so much about it when starting I tried growing a lot of FB resistant varieties. I also planted lots of Bosc pears and I have lost exactly one to FB of the scores I’ve planted at various sites. A couple of other trees have lost whole scaffolds to the disease, but it isn’t enough of a problem to be a deal breaker, given the high sugar it gets here. Another pest issue is much worse- pear psyla, which can require a lot of spraying to control for the most susceptible varieties, which include Seckel as well as Bosc- but at some sites it has not showed up yet as a problem and I would say there is about a 30% chance at any given site that it may not appear in susceptible varieties- I don’t know why.
I have managed many varieties of pears over the years, but what consistently produces good crops of sweet fruit are Harrow Sweet, Bartlett, and Bosc and Seckel where psyla isn’t a problem. Bartlett and Harrow Sweet bear fruit while still quite young on OHXF rootstocks, so they are what I have most of in my bearing age fruit tree nursery.
Start with those two and graft other types for variety- I recommend Flemish Beauty, Sheldon, Magness, Aurora, and Dutchess as add-ons.
Harrow Sweet cam be better than Bartlett- it ripens later and is a bit richer and crops younger and more consistently than any other pear I grow.
If you want to grow any Asian pears, I recommend only Korean Giant, although it is a magnet for stink-bugs and codling moth at some sites, including mine. Asian pears have trouble reaching adequate sugar in our climate, but KG is an exception. That may be why stink bugs like it so much. They also often do damage to Seckel pears.
Psyla is controlled well with multiple apps of Surround, which I consider a royal PIA. Using this product, organic production is certainly doable for most pears. I’ve also seen pears produce well at certain cites with no spray at all. You don’t know what pressure will be at any given site until you grow fruit there.