David Hernandez currently grows bell peppers, roma tomatoes and tomatoes on the vine in San Luis Potosí, 1,860 meters above sea level on the border with the neighbouring state of Guanajuato. His bell peppers come in red, yellow and orange colours, and he markets his produce in Mexico and the U.S. with the help of Fresh alliance and under his own brand Rancho El Partner.
David Hernandez at the Expo AgroAlimentaria Guanajuato
"We have 12 hectares of bell peppers, 6 hectare of tomatoes on the vine and 10 hectares of roma tomatoes," said Hernandez. The varieties grown are from Rijk Zwaan. "We grow varieties that give us perfect quality fruits and are resistant to phytoptora, something that is very important in our region. We market three colours, red, yellow and orange. For the orange peppers we grow two varieties, Orangery RZ, Sympathy RZ. We grow the red variety Avante RZ and for the yellow peppers we cultivate Sven RZ. I like Sven RZ very much, it gives a beautifully blocky shaped pepper. The climate in San Luis Potosi is very difficult compared to other regions in Mexico, but especially Avante RZ can handle this perfect, it is a real high performance crop and the plants stay very healthy thanks to the resistance to phytopthora.
Hernandez is very forward thinking regarding greenhouse growing. Currently, he grows his products on 28 hectares of greenhouses, with 20 of those hectares protected by plastic structures and the remaining eight hectares covered by netting, and he plans on making additions to his operation next year.
“We're going to expand with four more hectares of plastic greenhouses next year,” said Hernandez, who also told us that greenhouse builder Rufepa will be involved in the job. “In the new greenhouse we'll also use natural gas for heating, which will be the first time we use it in our greenhouses.” He cited the stability of the gas for heating purposes and the reason for incorporating it into the new structures. "We want to continue growing a high quality product, and with the help of extra heating we will succeed. We look forward to use additional heating to achieve a more stable climate, otherwise we will not be able to keep up in the future. The quality standards will only get higher and higher and we do not want to leave the market because we cant meet quality standards."
As well as this, the cultivation of Hernandez can be seen as very high end hydroponic greenhouse growing. He takes care of the young plant propagation himself in regards to the bell peppers. The TOV and Roma tomato plants are being grafted and propagated at PlantFort. Hernandez is later transplanting all of the young plants on Riococo slabs. "We have a good experience with the Riococo 300 slabs, we started small and have been expanding the acreage with this brand for over the last years. Next year all of our greenhouse crops will be grown on Riococo, as we are very happy with the uniform mix and results of this brand."
For more information:
Mr. David Hernandez Escobar, Rancho El Partner, [email protected]
Rijk Zwaan : www.rijkzwaan.com.mx
Riococo Mexico : www.riococo.com - [email protected]
Rufepa Tecnoagro : www.rufepa.com - [email protected]
Plantfort : www.plantfort.mx - [email protected]