Preciado was one farmer who saw the opportunity to grow his business by associating with private investors. Three years ago, he entered a joint venture with Agricola Batiz, a farming subsidiary of the Mexican conglomerate Grupo Pulsar. Under the agreement, Preciado retains control of his farm, managing his land, employees and equipment to produce bell peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes under contract for the company. Agricola Batiz funds the enterprise, including labor and technology costs, and handles the distribution and marketing of the produce under the company's Master's Touch label. The partnership has made Preciado the biggest produce farmer in the Yaqui Valley, with a crew of 800 workers who tend to fields in production from October to June.
Experts say such alliances are the way of the future.
There's big potential in the valley, and non-traditional crops is where the money is. U.S. consumers spend 44 billion a year on imported fruits and vegetables, according to Carlos Herrera, general director of Bionova S.A., the produce division of Grupo Pulsar. Sullivan presented an overview of the proposal, now under review by the Sonoran government, at a meeting last month in Ciudad Obregon attended by Gov. Fife Symington of Arizona and Gov. Manlio Fabio Beltrones of Sonora. A group of Arizona visitors recently pondered that potential for the region back at Preciado's crop-land, following the farmer alongside watermelon and peppers. They found proof in the juiciness of honeydew melons passed around by Mario H. Robles, vice president of Del Monte West, Mexico.