It has been close to two decades since the farming of peppers in protected structures has begun in Mexico. At that time, high tech greenhouses with very high manufacturing costs were installed and these were not fully amortized until a few years ago. These expensive structures were accompanied with the genetics that were suitable to such structures, all coming from countries that grow under lower lighting and temperatures than those in our country, and with prolonged cultivation periods.
Since then, the manner in which peppers are produced in Mexico has been largely influenced by these companies, and has resulted in the farming of the two-stemmed as the most common method in the majority of greenhouses and existing shaded meshes. The free competition among farmers and the growth of this crop under protected conditions in the different agricultural zones of the country has resulted in a constant offer of this fruit with the reduction of lucrative windows with not so attractive prices as in past years.
The pioneering farmers of this crop in Mexico who are always looking for ways of making this business a profitable one are opting for the multi-stem trellising, which allows them to get a much higher yield even in shorter production periods and with additional savings of up to 50% in labor. Most of the growers in other countries have confirmed these benefits, allowing the Multi stem trellising to have almost 100% of peppers in countries like Spain and Israel.
Zeraim Gedera started the development of varieties using this method in the agricultural zones of Israel and Spain over a decade ago experiencing good results about six years ago. To date, it is one of the leading companies in this crop at the global level, including Mexico, where we have adapted our varieties to the Multi-Stem and Two-Stem methods.
Zeraim Mexico strongly believes that the farming of peppers with the multi-stem handling is a very attractive production option in Mexico since it has many qualities, such as: a higher yield, reduction of labor costs, greater tolerance of the crop to stress and to lower temperatures, greater protection and tolerance to higher temperatures and water errors, etc.
Following the affiliates´ dynamics, Zeraim Mexico initiated the selection of its varieties in the most important agricultural zones in Mexico four years ago, allowing us to handle an extensive group of products today that our partners in the supply chain and farmers require to continue with the profitable business.