GUAYMAS, SONORA — Assuming El Niño gives West Mexico growers a break, more vegetable supplies should be coming to produce buyers in the near future.

A recent tour of Sonora’s Guaymas and Hermosillo growing areas indicated that strong new crops are on the vine and will be harvested in coming weeks.  

In shadehouses, mini-sweet peppers, green Bell peppers, cucumbers and zucchini all looked strong. A cucumber shadehouse was finishing strong to serve $39 markets, while next-planting seedlings were literally rising from the ground below as previous-generation plantings were a couple of weeks from the end of their efficient productivity. The new cucumbers were expected to begin production in mid-February.SunFed associates Brett Burdsal, Felix Peralta, Juan Ramon Sanchez and Mark Cassius in a Hermosillo green Bell pepper shadehouse of SunFed grower-partner Invernadero Comitán.

Field plantings of squash and other vegetable varieties were under way to serve the early-March market.

The Produce News traveled here Jan. 14-15 with SunFed Produce LLC executives Mark Cassius, chief innovation officer, and Brett Burdsal, marketing director. Leading the tour was Felix Peralta, SunFed’s director of integrated logistics. Juan Ramon Sanchez, SunFed’s territory manager in this area, is one of several agronomists working with SunFed grower-partners on a daily basis to assure corporate continuity and also was in attendance.  

Daytime highs during the tour were 80 degrees. There are no promises in the produce industry, but it was encouraging to think that perhaps after rain and then cold disrupted West Mexico in December, supplies soon will return to normal.  

Growing in many parts of the country, SunFed produces Mexican vegetables 12 months a year. This year the firm will grow on 20,000 acres, of which about 8,000 acres will be protected production, according to Cassius.

SunFed grower-partner Alex Barrera, who is the general manager of Invernadero Comitán in Hermosillo, said his farm had seen more rain than it had in 20 years.  

“More than ever the weather has been unpredictable,” he said.