Mexico: the country with “huge horticulture potential" provided you have the right support
With abundant land, sunshine and a huge consumer market to the north, Mexico is a country ready-made for success in horticulture. At the same time, with an adequate support network and access to the right knowledge and technologies, it’s also a country rife with pitfalls.
This is the assessment of Hans van Herk, owner of Netherlands-based Propagation Solutions, an industry professional advising horticultural companies worldwide, including several years supporting businesses in Mexico.
Van Herk believes strongly that gilded horticulture opportunities are there to be taken in Mexico for both Mexican propagators and Dutch technology specialists, but he warns that having the correct structures and support in place is crucial if either business is to be a success.
Plantanova spoke to Hans van Herk about how he got his start in horticulture and why he believes Mexico has so much untapped potential.
After studying at what he describes as a “horticultural high school” in the Netherlands, van Herk spent 12 years at a Dutch propagator (“There I really learned the tricks of the trade – how to handle plants in all kinds of conditions”). As a technical support specialist at a rockwool supplier, he circled the globe visiting companies in Canada, Australia, Mexico, among many others.
Around eight years ago, Hans set-up his own business to help propagators with expertise and knowledge worldwide, supporting growers from Iran to Argentina. “Companies want someone else to look at their plants and say, ‘good or not good,’ and I’m Dutch so I’m straightforward” he laughs. “If the plants are not good in my eyes, then I will say so.” Hans also helps clients achieve energy, water and fertilizer savings.
With a such a background, van Herk is in no doubt about the horticulture potential Mexico holds and the reasons why launching into the market, unprepared, in not an option.
“Mexico has a huge opportunity,” he says. “It has a fantastic climate, it’s 1,000m above sea level, so cooler nights, sunny days – none of that steaming 40 degrees. For the horticulture, sunlight is very important. There’s also enough land.”
However, things are rarely as straightforward as they may at first appear, and van Herk says the “complicating factor” – in common with many countries in Latin America and elsewhere is a combination of difficult-to-navigate bureaucracy and a lack of adequate infrastructure.
“The infrastructure of the horticulture industry in Mexico is still in its infancy,” believes van Herk. “It has to be developed, and that will take a while.
“But if you look at Mexico and Canada, they are next to a huge market in the US with over 300 million people. If you then focus on selling young plants, there’s even more to gain, and then you have machines and glasshouses.
“So the opportunities are huge in Mexico, but at the same time if you go over there looking for business, you need local people to help you and support you. On your own, you will never do it.”
Another key to business success in Mexico is having the right people in place. “All the people I met in the three years I visited Mexico were very willing and eager to learn,” recalls van Herk. “But what’s super important over there, if you want to do business in Mexico, you really have to have a good network.”
Conversely, for any new, Mexican company starting out in propagation, van Herk says having the right connections – in terms of sources of expertise, knowhow and technologies – are equally important.
“You also have to have the right connections in the Netherlands or a similar country where they get access to the knowledge because only sunshine isn’t enough to make a good plant or to grow many kilos of tomatoes or peppers,” he says. “You have to have access to knowledge and people that can really help you.”
