The Associación Mexicana de Horticultura Protegida A.C., or Mexican Association of Protected Horticulture, headquartered in Culiacan, Sinaloa, better known by its Spanish acronym, AMHPAC, has been involved in a variety of activities for the benefit of its members since its founding six years ago, but for the current year, a major focus of the organization is to urge member compliance with five categories of industry standards in order to assure the industry’s ability to compete in a global marketplace, according to Eric Viramontes, chief executive officer of the organization.

“We have a program … where we have high levels of agreement of compliance, where we are asking all of our membership” to comply with a five categories of industry standards, Mr. Viramontes said.

First is “to comply with a certification system that is a global benchmark,” such as the Global Food Safety Initiative,” he said.

Another level of compliance, he said, is “that all of our members have to be in good standing with all official requirements on both origin and destiny. We have to comply with the Mexican authority, which is SENASICA [Servicio Nacional de Sanidad, Inocuildad y Calidad Agroalimentaria, the Mexican counterpart of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration] and also be aboard any new FDA requirements that are coming up with the new [food Safety] Modernization Act.

“Number three, we have to be updated on traceability” in compliance with the Produce Traceability Initiative,” he said.

“Number four, we have to bring aboard an active social responsibility program within our operation,” he said.

The fifth point of compliance is that all AMHPAC members are expected to conduct regular self-audits in addition to third party certification and compliance with government requirements. “All our growers are accountable to do self-auditing once a month,” Mr. Viramontes said. Third-party audits and SENASICA certification are still “a must,” he said. But in addition, “all our growers” are expected to report on “12 self-audits a year, which is going to make them more pro-active in terms of securing the supply chain.”

The organization’s goal is to achieve the full compliance of its members by August.

In addition, “we are still working on all our training programs to support our industry” in gaining a competitive edge, which is “our high priority right now,” Mr. Viramontes said. Those training programs cover such things as productivity and sustainability to help the industry move forward. “This is growing, changing industry, and we have to be on top of it and be able to react accordingly,” he said.

Mr. Viramontes, who has been involved with AMPHAC since its founding and has been CEO since 2008, said Feb. 4 that he has decided to step down from the helm of the organization and to concentrate his efforts on his own company, Visiones y Servicios. The new CEO of AMHPAC will be Arturo Diaz, who is “a good friend of mine” and someone who is “close to our industry,” having worked “both in the private and official sectors,” in SAGARPA and in various private companies in the agricultural sector.

When Mr. Viramontes became CEO of AMHPAC, it had 32 members. It now has nearly 12 times that number, and the number of acres in Mexico producing vegetables for export in protective structures has grown dramatically.

Mr. Viramontes said he will continue to be affiliated with AMPHAC as a member of the board of directors. He will also see through to completion some of the issues he has been involved in, such as negotiations for the Tomato Suspension Agreement.