"Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto chose the Rene Produce ranch in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico, as the location to sign a nutrition initiative for the national Crusade Against Hunger," according to a Rene Produce press release dated March 25.

The crusade is "a comprehensive, multi-faceted effort to eradicate hunger and malnutrition in Mexico," the release said. "Rene Produce, a grower and distributor of fruits and vegetables in Culiacan for 50 years, was chosen to symbolize the initiative's focus on increasing consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables."

Sinaloa Gov. Mario Lopez; Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto; Rene Carrillo Sr., founder of Rene Produce; and Rene Carrillo Jr. of Rene Produce at an event to promote Mexico's Crusade Against Hunger, held March 4 at the Rene Produce ranch in Culiacan, Sinaloa. (Photo courtesy of Rene Produce)"Our family is very proud to be part of such an important program for our country," Rene Produce founder Rene Carrillo said in the release.

At the March 4 event, President Peña Nieto signed the initiative "in front of 4,000 dignitaries, including fresh produce growers from all regions of Mexico," the release stated.

The choice of the Rene Produce ranch as the sight for the signing event "was symbolic" because of the company's longevity and success in the region, Hurley Neer, who handles business development and national accounts for Rene Produce, told The Produce News.

The anti-hunger campaign was actually started about a month earlier, Mr. Neer said, "but they wanted to include vegetable producers and growers in the country, and this is the area, this time of year, that is in production and has an abundance of product being harvested. Sinaloa is a major growing region for Mexico in general."

The president of Mexico chose Rene Produce in his fight against hunger "I think ... because he was looking for a company that would bring what he envisions a produce company should be like in Mexico," Jose Garcia, chief operating officer of Rene Produce, told The Produce News in a March 25 interview.

The company produces a lot of vegetables but also mangos and other fruit, and "there is a big portion of the company that has to do with grains" such as wheat and the corn used for tortillas, as well as soybeans and dried beans, said Mr. Garcia. Also, it is "a vertically integrated company where you have pretty much the whole process in one company."

Also significant in the president's choice was the fact that more than 5,000 families contribute to producing those crops at Rene Produce, he said.

While much of the fresh produce grown by Rene Produce is exported to the United States and distributed through the company's U.S. headquarters in Nogales, AZ, "about 20 percent of what we grow on the vegetable side does stay in Mexico," as do 100 percent of the grains, he said.

The domestic market in Mexico is "a huge part" of the Rene operation that people in the United States "don't really get to see," Mr. Garcia added. Rene is a company that "has a lot to offer" with regard to improving nutrition for the people of Mexico, and the country's president "is going to be listening to the big produce companies as to how we can meet the needs of the hungry people" in the country, he said.