Why do so few flowers come from Mexico? Not an obvious question, but once asked, it makes everyone wonder. Because, on closer inspection, it seems this country has everything at its disposable to make things difficult for South American growers. This is, however, not the case. Last week, at the Dutch bank, Rabobank's offices in the town of De Lier, several business owners debated this questions.
Mexico, as well as neighbouring Guatemala, lends itself well to the realisation of large-scale, high-tech greenhouse cultivation. This type of farming has been a success in the area of greenhouse vegetables. The country, it is said, has about 1.200 hectares of tomatoes, cucumbers, and bell peppers under high-tech glass. Sunlight, workers, and space are abundant. Although political and economic conditions are not better, they are certainly not worse than in any other 'third world' country. This also seems to apply to logistics. Here the lack of available, clean irrigation water is the biggest drawback. In any case, this is true for tomatoes.
Robert van Geest is one of the people who can tell you all about this. He has lived, and worked, in Mexico for many years now. He has run many-a-nursery and was also involved in acquiring land for the Agropark in the Queretaro region (2 hours drive north of Mexico City). He is now the COO of United Farms. United Farms is a group that develops and manages 65.5 hectares of greenhouses near Agropark. Even he does not know why floriculture in Mexico cannot seem to get off the ground. "Mexico does have a high-consumption floral culture. Mexicans can learn from us in the area of planning. They, however, have an excellent work ethic and are highly inventive. They should also be able to make good money. If you look at vegetables, returns are often much higher than in Europe. Mexican businesses are also interesting to investors. This is thanks to the way the chains are organised. The companies have a good overview of which returns can be achieved", explained Robert.
Skilled labour
According to him, the problem lies in logistics, and, above all, a lack of skilled workers. Roland Gels, a Director at Dutch wholesaler, Levarht, agrees with him on this point. This company is responsible for, among other things, bell peppers production. This is done at the Mexican glass house company, Freshmex. "We have done a lot of research. We also have a state-of-the-art garden. Yet, we have never achieved the level of production that growers in the Netherlands reach", says Roland. "I suspect it has to do with knowledge. You can have the best, computerised climate control, but if you do not know exactly how to turn the buds, it is a problem. Maybe that is the most important lesson - it is never to soon to start training your own people."
At any rate, both gentlemen agree that Mexico lends itself to greenhouse production. It is actually going better than ever with the country, according to Ed Smit of Jungle Talks. This company organises webinars about current Dutch and global horticulture issues. "Eighteen months ago, Trump had just been elected. Then, his rhetoric about the wall was still strong. It caused widespread fear. Now, that fear has died down. The country is, in fact, developing positively", he says. "Mexico has all the credentials to expand into a large, if not the largest, producer in the region. Labour is expensive in North America. The cannabis story has also impacted the vegetable and flower production. South American has the flowers, but you cannot fly in tomatoes. I do not see things happening so quickly in countries like Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Honduras."
Cymbidiums
Only Guatemala, the 'land of eternal spring', remains. It is similar to Mexico in many ways. From a Dutch perspective, it may, however, still be somewhat more exotic than Mexico. There is only a handful of Dutch horticultural companies there. There are only two of importance. The one is Ter Laak, who gained a lot of publicity with its Ter Laak AmericaS project. The other is Jan Valstar's lesser known, Star Orchids. He spoke enthusiastically about his still-new experiences in Guatemala. He visited that country for the first time in early 2014. Since then he has become operational, but the first flowers are still to be harvested. He was, however, able to impart some lessons with the gathered businesspeople. This is perhaps because of his open-mindedness. The first, and foremost, of these lessons, is that whatever you undertake, do it with a partner who knows the lay of the land. He says, "I speak very little Spanish, and Guatemala is 12.000 kilometres from the Netherlands. I know something of cultivation and the daily running of a business. But this, and all that it entails, is difficult to organise from so far away. I am fully confident that our business will become up-and-running. This confidence is, however, mainly based on my partnership."