Culiacan, Sinaloa. In conjunction with the Culiacan River Growers Association, Asociación de Agricultores del Río Culiacán (AARC), and the company AgroDer, on September 7 and 8, we had the participation of seven Dutch companies specializing in high technology for vegetable production and water management.

Among the companies that visited us were Genap, 30MHz, Patron Agri Systems, Ridder, Tebarex, Vermeer, and Royal Brinkman.

This trade mission was carried out through the “Dutch Companies Water Mission” program, which seeks to provide growers in Sinaloa with the opportunity to learn about new technologies to take advantage of and protect the use of water resources in the agricultural sector.

The Dutch embassy in Mexico saw an opportunity between Dutch technology for the states of Sinaloa and Guanajuato, due to their high agricultural productivity and the challenges they face in water issues.

This trade mission consisted of B2B meetings with growers.  On September 7, the mission began with a plenary meeting with the participation of growers, Dutch companies, and authorities from the Dutch embassy in Mexico, as well as Sinaloa’s Secretary of Agriculture, Jaime Montes, and the Undersecretary of Economy, Felipe Ibarra. During the afternoon, almost 50 business meetings were held at the Lucerna Hotel.

In his message, the president of the Board of Directors of Veggies from Mexico, Antonio Beltran Ochoa, emphasized that these actions offer Sinaloa growers access to tools to continue producing and exporting, as well as a profitable business and long-term relationships.

In his message, Enrique Riveros Echavarría, president of the AARC, stressed the importance of having tools that allow practical use of the resources available, “to do more with less, so we need technologies for continuous measurement of plant conditions, to really know when, how and where to irrigate, fertilize, harvest,” he said.

Also present were Erik Plaisier, Agricultural Counselor of the Embassy and AgroDer; Frank Hoogendorn and Patricia Pliego of EKN and AgroDer; as well as members of the Dutch Mission and AARC partners.

On Thursday, September 8, two visits were made to the companies Viva Orgánica and Chaparral.  It is worth mentioning that the Dutch businessmen were very surprised with the technology used by these companies, as well as with the unique social responsibility programs.

The trade mission ended with a joint lunch between the visitors and the growers from Sinaloa. 

According to the comments of the businessmen and the Dutch embassy, the mission was a complete success.