AMHPAC 2012 – Writing The Story Of The Protected-Agriculture Industry
September 17, 2012 | 4 min to read
The 5th Annual Conference of the Mexico Association for Protected Horticulture (AMHPAC) Presidente Intercontinental Hotel, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, August 22-24, 2012, was attended by over 440 participants — growers, exporters, US shippers, US brokers and industry services providers — who support and work in the trade of produce from Mexico to the United States and beyond. Recounting the history of AMHPAC, the association’s inception dated back to October 1999, where a focused group of 16 greenhouse producers of different states of the country had come together to establish an association that represented them in the search for common goals and that could enable the growth of this developing industry.
AMHPAC’s Mission statement: To integrate, organize, represent, regulate, inform, promote and defend the National Protected Horticulture.
AMHPAC Vision: To be an organization that represents and becomes a common ground for all in this field industry, and to have a great presence in the Mexican agro-alimentary field.
Since the first conference in 2008 to the 2012 conference, AMHPAC has grown in membership and conference attendance, implemented new industry initiatives, as well as built the business and obtained momentum by innovating the industry with new technology and systems.
AMHPAC now has 269 members – focused on providing quality Mexican produce to the US and Canadian markets. To date, AMHPAC is the leading association that has become the US link from production to packing, to shipping and marketing of the protected horticultural industry from Mexico.
Members and staff take pride in their dedication to the following values:
- 2nd to 4th generation of growers
- Best agricultural practices
- Diversity of product line of vegetables
- Quality services and products
- Capacity of creating year-round programs
MESSAGES FROM THIS YEAR’S CONFERENCE:
From Eric Viramontes, Chief Executive Officer of AMHPAC, when asked: Describing the history of this industry, how has this year’s conference evolved with information and direction for AMHPAC’s membership?
“Going back with a fairly new industry which was developed over 60 years ago – the industry started by adapting different/new agricultural technologies to the unique growing regions of Mexico and has made it possible to produce and export the best products from Mexico 365 days of the year. The industry has continued to succeed from there because of Mexico’s unique growing conditions and the increasing demand of the consumers.
Even though the cost of the industry is rising, considering the price of oil and labour cost, increasing demand has made the industry grow. Our story is a difficult story, a suspense story and a happy story that breeds much success. Our discussions at this year’s conference have led to continuing to write the success story, strategize and organize, to raise the bar on competitiveness, to continue to deliver the highest quality products with traceability, social responsibility and overall business integrity.
AMHPAC allows members to align with the agency requirements, training, promotion and industry information-sharing relating to products, services or actions to support the industry/organization fully. To align and collaborate with public and private policy and understand growth enables us to deliver the highest quality products more efficiently to the US and Canada.”
From Carlos Cueto, President of Cueto Produce and President of AMHPAC, when asked: What do you think is the key to a successful future for each producer/exporter?
“There are many key opportunities:
- creativity with social responsibility
- creativity within the supply chain and supply chain management
- increased involvement with the consumer
- analyze current programs – review all aspects to make them more efficient.
New markets will also bring opportunities; producers need to be more creative to entering new markets and create diversity in the marketplace by entering new continents.
it is important for AMHPAC to continue working with government agencies and grow as an organization, grow in the marketplace, and be an organization of transparency. I have adopted the dream of Cesar Campaña, who was the previous president of AMHPAC, and his dream was to grow AMHPAC as a premier industry organization.”
From Juan Ariel Reyes, Director of INPOSA and Vice President of AMHPAC, when asked: What are the critical factors for producers to succeed in this economy?
“There are four critical factors:
- Right technology for your specific products
- Sufficient and proper human resources
- Produce at the right time of the year, according to your micro climate and technology
-
Efficient production management
- You don’t always get more money producing more product – you have to put special attention to fine tuning of your program.”
Source: PerishableNews.com