Papaya Industry Faces Tough Recovery

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

quote:

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Originally posted by csgray

Virtually all the large scale vegetable production in Mexico is now hydroponics, so when you buy a pepper or head of lettuce that was grown in Mexico, it was probably hydroponic. Israel also has largely switched over to hydroponics as well

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Do you know the actual percentage of vegetables grown hydroponically in Mexico? I tried to Google it but couldn't find a number. If it's published somewhere it's probably in Spanish. While it's true many greenhouse growers use hydroponic production there, greenhouse production is a very small amount of the total. It is generally seasonal, for a few months in the winter when crops could not otherwise be grown, but during the spring, summer & fall the greenhouses become too hot without an extensive ventilation or cooling system, so most crops as far as I know continue to be grown outside.

Israel does have a fairly extensive hydroponic industry, but without it they would not be able to produce much other than olives, figs, and lemons. Their soil is mainly rocky sand. As with the charter schools, the Kibbutzes on which vegetables are grown have a great deal of volunteer labor.

[csgray]

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

[kander]

quote:

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Originally posted by leilanidude

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Actually yes, I do live here. No, I disagree that it takes thousands of acres for these crops to be profitable considering the current market price of these crops. Thousands of acres translates to multi million dollar operations. I dont see where the hostility is coming from.

[missydog1]

I seem to recall kander shot the drone footage of the storm aftermath that we liked so much, while helping storm victims.

[lavalava]

It just seems hard to imagine that the only crop that the unique conditions of Puna Makai can support is Papaya. Hearing a lot of close minded "well thats just the way its always been" knee jerk responses.

[leilanidude]

kander - It isn't hostility - my question was asked because anyone that lives here should already know what the ground consists of.
There is no soil to speak of. Dependent upon row spacing, you normally have around 15-24,000 plants per acre in sweet corn. How would you plant that? By hand? What about harvest? How could a combine go through a field full of rocks? Could you imagine the insect issues here? How about mold?

[james weatherford]

...and, how about those papayas? (that being the topic...)

Unfortunately, on this island, most papaya growers grow very little else and thus are very vulnerable to climate, pest, and market risks.
Try diversify.

This island has a tropical climate.
Barley, wheat, and oats are not generally grown in a tropical climate.
Papaya is only grown in tropical climates.

[unknownjulie]

Yes, Kander, thanks again for the video. I had no idea about Mexican farming, and what was happening down there. Thanks CS for the info. It sounds like Israel could be a good model for trying it here, but the infrastructure sounds very expensive. My guess is that it's funded by the gov't over there.

[jerry]

It can be done. Check out friendlyaquaponics.com in Hamakua

I believe they produce all the lettuce for Costco in Kona.

Jerry