08-25-2014, 04:08 PM
My daughter and son in law live in Mexico, he is Mexican and his home region once was a huge lettuce producer for export, he and I had long conversations about how AG in Mexico has changed in recent years, and how hydroponics specifically have changed the game. Luis is an engineer with masters degrees in engineering and business from top schools in Mexico and Germany who knows his country well, and had recently researched growing export lettuce specifically when he proposed growing lettuce on his father's ranch in Guanajuato state, the numbers didn't work because he couldn't compete with the big guys, so they dropped the idea.
Agribusiness giants are moving into water short regions with lots of sun and growing produce in huge hydroponic greenhouse complexes that cover square miles, not square acres. It is a huge worry for Mexicans because of the dangers of water mining, where more water is taken out of the aquifers than goes back in. The market for vegetables to the USA, South America and Europe is largely during the winter months in those places, especially when those vegetable cannot be grown anywhere in the USA, outside of parts of Florida and the Imperial Valley in California. The last three times I flew down and back I traveled in and out of different cities (Leon, Queretaro, Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, and Mexico City) and flew over miles of desert with greenhouses every time. On the Baja peninsula it was really noticeable because the peninsula is so narrow. I don't know how they vent the greenhouses, or if they just peel back the plastic in the summer. Labor is cheap, so that may be what they do.
Not all produce in Israel is grown on Kibbutzes any more, in fact the kibbutzes have been shrinking while commercial farming has expanded, but the Israelis are considered the cutting edge on all aspects of efficient irrigation because big business has been very motivated to save money by reducing water waste, water is gold there.
Carol
Not my circus, not my monkeys.
edited because the automatic censorship app for the website couldn't tell the difference between ***** and peninsula
Agribusiness giants are moving into water short regions with lots of sun and growing produce in huge hydroponic greenhouse complexes that cover square miles, not square acres. It is a huge worry for Mexicans because of the dangers of water mining, where more water is taken out of the aquifers than goes back in. The market for vegetables to the USA, South America and Europe is largely during the winter months in those places, especially when those vegetable cannot be grown anywhere in the USA, outside of parts of Florida and the Imperial Valley in California. The last three times I flew down and back I traveled in and out of different cities (Leon, Queretaro, Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, and Mexico City) and flew over miles of desert with greenhouses every time. On the Baja peninsula it was really noticeable because the peninsula is so narrow. I don't know how they vent the greenhouses, or if they just peel back the plastic in the summer. Labor is cheap, so that may be what they do.
Not all produce in Israel is grown on Kibbutzes any more, in fact the kibbutzes have been shrinking while commercial farming has expanded, but the Israelis are considered the cutting edge on all aspects of efficient irrigation because big business has been very motivated to save money by reducing water waste, water is gold there.
Carol
Not my circus, not my monkeys.
edited because the automatic censorship app for the website couldn't tell the difference between ***** and peninsula
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb