Growing apples in Mexico

Q. What is the size and scope of Mexico’s apple industry?

A. The state of Chihuahua, which is 1 600–2 100 metres above sea level, grows 70–80% of the apples in Mexico. The other states where the remaining 20% of the apples are grown, are around 1 200 metres above sea level.

Chihuahua has all kinds of climates – from desert to tropical – but where we grow apples, we are in a transition zone between the desert and the mountains.

Mexico produces about 800 000 tonnes of apples every year. But we have a huge population, so we market all of our fruit locally. Mexican growers usually sell to one person, and this person sells the fruit at farmers’ markets in different cities. Local markets are a little bit more flexible with quality and sizes than export markets, and you don’t have to put extra money into shipping.

“We have a huge population, so we market all of our fruit locally.”

We do battle with Red Delicious coming from Washington State. It’s a variety that is hard to market nowadays in the United States. And they still have a strong production, so they send it to Mexico. Sometimes it brings our prices down.

Q. Can you describe your farm?

A. It was my dad’s farm. Since he passed away, my mom, my brothers, and I work together, but at the same time, we are independent. We work with the same equipment and the same people, but each of us does what we feel is best when marketing our own fruit.

I have 20 hectares. The average for Mexico is 10–15 hectares. I grow mostly early varieties like Gala and Golden Supreme, which is a Golden Delicious strain that ripens around the same time as Gala. I also grow some reds.

We have an advantage in that we are the first to harvest in our state when the market is eager for fresh fruit. So, we don’t have the extra expense of storage. We just pick, pack, and ship.

Q. How are rootstocks and orchard systems evolving in Mexico?

A. The average yield in Mexico is around 20 tonnes per hectare. But I must say that there are many old orchards that are not well cared for. But even in well-managed new orchards, the average is about 40–50 tonnes per hectare.

We have high-density orchards that are 8–9 years old, where we still only get 50–60 tonnes per hectare. So, I believe we have a chance to improve.

My dad’s orchard was planted at 7 x 7 metres, which gives you roughly 250 trees per hectare. Right now, I’m planting 3 300 trees per hectare. The orchard I planted this spring is at 3.5 x 0.9 metres.

I planted close to try to fill up the space. Our challenge is getting enough branches on the tree – we do everything to get branching, but it seems like we are still having a hard time.

Mexican growers are moving away from seedling and M.111 rootstocks to more dwarfing rootstocks. M.7 is used a lot, and for the last maybe eight years, we have been getting a lot of the Genevas. In my area, the most planted Genevas are G.202, G.210, and G.30.

Genevas are becoming more popular because we replant the same sites. The Genevas are more tolerant, so we don’t fumigate anymore. If I plant new soils on my own farm, I go with M.7. If it’s replant, I go with G.202.

We have similar conditions to South Africa in that we have poor soils. My own soils are only stones and sand, so I’m not interested in M.9.

Q. What is the Mexican industry’s biggest challenge?

A. Climate change. It is really impacting us. We are not in the best location to grow apples, but because Chihuahua is at a high altitude – around 2 000 metres above sea level – we have enough chilling to grow apples.

Rest-breaking every year is a must. There’s no question about whether we will apply it. It’s just a question of how much.

We struggle with freezes during bloom and with hail. We also struggle with no rain and with sunburn when it’s very hot. We had problems before, but now it’s getting worse.

Nets are a must in our area. Hail is going to happen almost every year. Even if we don’t get hail, we need nets for sunburn. Generally, about 70% of the orchards have nets, but we all need to have them.

About half of the nets are those with permanent structures, and half are those draped over the trees, because the permanent nets are obviously more expensive.

Q. How do you manage water and irrigation?

A. All of our orchards are pressure irrigated. Most are drip-irrigated, but we also have micro-sprinkler irrigation, which we use not only for irrigation but also for frost protection.
In our area, the water comes from deep wells. We have an energy subsidy for water wells, but pumping water is still one of the main expenses of growing apples because the wells are around 300 metres deep.

We haven’t been getting enough rain over the last few years to recharge the aquifers, so water levels are declining. Nowadays, no new drilling permits are issued. If you want to drill a well, you need to buy an existing permit from somebody else. Then you drill your well, but the previous well can’t be used anymore.

Q. Do you use mulches to save water?

A. Most people don’t. I’ve seen trials with sawdust and corn husks, which kind of work well. The problem is that sometimes the corn husks are contaminated with two-spotted and red spider mites.

I’ve found that in our orchard, with micro-sprinklers, we have a nice cover crop, which helps reduce mites. The other thing that helps a lot is pheromones for the mating disruption of codling moth.

If you don’t spray for codling moth, you don’t kill the natural enemies of mites. So when we use pheromones, we have found that we don’t have codling moth or mites.

Q. Is fire blight an important disease in your area?

A. Yes. There used to be pears in our area 30–40 years ago, but then we got fire blight, and the pears are gone. In apples, we have learned how to manage fire blight.
The apple growers’ organisation has a programme where we test blossoms every day during bloom time. Every day, approximately 100 different growers, spread across the entire production area, take samples to the lab, where they are tested for bacteria.

If the bacteria grow, we see what the weather forecast is for the following days. If the conditions are right for fire blight, we send an alert telling the growers that they need to spray.
So, it has been an efficient programme because, otherwise, you would have had to spray whenever you felt like you were going to get fire blight. Now, you only spray if you know there is a risk.

Q. How much do Mexico and South Africa have in common?

A. We have an annual conference that is organised by the professional agronomist club to which I belong. This year, we had the idea to have speakers from regions with a similar lack of chilling hours.

We invited Wiehann [Steyn] and Nigel [Cook] to give presentations at our conference back in February. I was surprised to discover that we have very similar conditions to those in South Africa.
We have the same lack of chilling hours and rain. Even our currencies are about the same.

Besides the shared climate challenge, Mexico also has labour problems. People are becoming scarcer, and wages keep going up every year. So, we need to find a way to be more efficient with labour, for which high density helps a lot.

We also need to increase our yields because expenses keep getting higher. Labour is our main expense, but crop protection and fertilisers keep going up every year. And you’re not getting a higher price for your apples. It’s the same or even lower.

I think we have many things to learn from the people in South Africa. You are getting higher yields than we are in Mexico. We were all very surprised and happy to know that somebody with similar conditions is doing better than we are.

When we compare ourselves to the United States, for example, we say that they grow better apples and have better yields because they have better conditions. But we now know that South Africa does much better than we do, so it gives us hope that we can improve.