Mexico’s Produce Exporters Hope for Better Times Ahead After Challenging 12 Months

Some of Mexico’s leading exporters to the U.S. and Canada have described 2025 as a “difficult” season, marked by “winners and losers,” which led to tough commercial decisions being made by many in the industry.

Despite prices having recovered somewhat in 2026 to date, there is still widespread concern about the ongoing impact of labor shortages and uncertainty surrounding topics from import tariffs to market prices.

Speaking at the recent International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA) Mexico Conference, Miguel Curiel, vice president and general manager — Mexico at Driscoll’s, described 2025 as “a season of highs and lows for the industry,” which started with very good rainfall and good weather in the summer that helped the development of the plants.

However, a very mild winter — featuring temperatures “a couple of degrees warmer than normal” — brought the 2026 spring season forward by two to three weeks in raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and somewhat in strawberries.

The effect of the warm winter wasn’t just limited to Mexico. California strawberries, which normally enter the market in March, were available from February, impacting Mexican exporters as a result. The same pattern was repeated with California blackberries and raspberries.

Curiel says the overall result was greater volumes across the market, which negatively impacted prices for all players.

CHALLENGES

Another challenge experienced by growers is the ongoing shortage of manpower affecting the whole of the Mexican produce industry. “Since 2017-18, we have the same labor resource in Mexico, around 3 million workers, who support the agriculture industry — that labor force has got older, and is also having other opportunities.”

Miguel Usabiaga, president of Irapuato, Mexico-headquartered Mr Lucky, described the 2025 season as “difficult,” with products that were “winners and losers.” “In general, the second semester was very good, but the first was very difficult in terms of weather with excessive heat and problems with pests — we had significant pest problems in tomatoes, peppers, lettuce and celery.

“It’s true what they say about climate change and how nature is behaving because now we have significantly more challenges than we had five or 10 years ago. We have new diseases, and new types of fungi that we didn’t know 10 years ago, so things are becoming more challenging.”

In particular, Usabiaga says growers found themselves battling with thrips, particularly with lettuce, tomatoes and celery, among many other products. Despite these initial difficulties, he says Mr Lucky had a “relatively good” finish to the second semester due to a more favorable climate, and stable demand in export markets.

Labor shortages and the resultant push for greater automation are increasingly becoming central topics of conversation. In the case of Mr Lucky, Usabiaga says in order to meet the company’s ambitious growth targets, it was actively looking at automation options given labor problems in Mexico’s fields and packing houses.

“Unfortunately, there is enough manpower in Mexico, so we have to automate, and we’re looking to automate as much as we can,” he admits. “In the fields, we can work on automating harvesting, and in the packing houses we are switching to more automated lines that require fewer workers.”

Usabiaga says Mr Lucky was also implementing AI solutions for a range of tasks, including detecting niche market opportunities, preventative maintenance, production planning, water usage, and plant nutrition.

TOMATOES

According to Carlos Visconti, chief executive at Red Sun Farms, 2025 was a difficult year for Mexico’s tomato industry, principally as a result of the end of the Tomato Suspension Agreement in July last year. “Without the minimum price benchmark that was included in the agreement, there was a lack of control in exports and prices collapsed in the market,” he says.

Although headquartered in Kingsville, Ontario, Red Sun Farms has significant growing operations south of the border, and Visconti says the company took the decision to “not fall into dumping” by leaving some of the production in Mexico.

“We decided to do the correct thing, and avoid slipping into dumping,” he explains. The result, however, was that Red Sun’s Mexican operations endured “six to seven difficult months,” until at least January 2026 when the company was finally able to once again export the entirety of its production volumes.

At the industry level, Visconti says not all growers were able to stay the course, with many forced to switch products due to market complications. “A number of players exited the industry, which led to a shortage in volumes in the market and an increase in prices,” he continues. “This year, since February, we have started to see more attractive prices, but it’s as a result of fewer players now in the market.”

The other consequence, Visconti added, is that Mexican tomato exporters have had to absorb the majority of the 17.09% anti-dumping duty now being applied on entry to the U.S.; a cost which Visconti said inevitably gets passed on to U.S. consumers.

BERRIES

For the rest of the year ahead, Curiel says the focus for Driscoll’s would be on streamlining its varietal offerings. “This year, we purposefully won’t be adding any new varieties because we have spent four years introducing new varieties; now, we are focused on making sure growers perfect producing these new varieties, and improve their productivity.

“The focus is ‘back to basics’ by focusing on the core and becoming more efficient in our operations through better management of materials and production systems in the zones where we operate.”

Looking at the Mexican berry industry, predictions point to a strong finish to the season in production terms for blueberries. From a record-low previous total of below 60 million kilos, Curiel says the 2026 season should finish on just over 62 million kilos, thanks to a greater focus on spring and a move away from fall production.

In strawberries, production fell by 11% this year due to competition from other sources. Better news was to be found with raspberries, where volumes have risen by 30% without an increase in the overall production area. Similarly, blackberry volumes increased by over 30%, largely thanks to varietal renewal Mexico-wide.

At a global level, Usabiaga estimates that around 50% of Mr Lucky’s annual production is exported — with the rest sold in the domestic market — although for some products this total can reach as high as 90%. As a company, Mr Lucky sells around 250 different lines of products, including those sold in different packaging and under different brands.

For export, tomatoes, peppers, garlic, lettuce, celery, and broccoli are the key products, with U.S. and Canada the principal markets, followed by Asia (principally Japan) and Australia, as well as smaller volumes to Europe.

“We bring out at least one new product every month,” continues Usabiaga. “Of course, not all these new products succeed — there are winners and losers — but we have a percentage of success of at least 60%.”

These new products include salad mixes and vegetable protein mixes, such as broccoli with peppers, plus a new line of hot chiles, such as jalapeños and habaneros, and processed products, such as fresh garlic paste.

“We have identified that families are looking for smaller packs, partly because of the economy, but also because families are getting smaller,” Usabiaga reveals. “Consumers are also seeking products that require less preparation at home.”