Agricola Zarattini (Agrizar), the Italian origin company based in Irapuato that supports over 600 farmers across the country to export and import asparagus and peppers, sends quality products to continents such as Asia, Europe, the United States, and Canada.
Alejandro Latigo, a member of Agrizar, spoke about the company's tradition since 1981, when it started cultivating green asparagus, which has consolidated in brands like Altar and Sunset, the latter, with a plant in Mexico and the United States.
"We started marketing (asparagus) in a time when no one else was doing it, that is to say in summer, June-July-August, and then we accepted asparagus from other producers to have a bigger volume. Since then we pack the asparagus from other farmers to whom we give the plant, advise, transport, collect their product, pack it, pay them, and we market it through the Altar brand," he said.
The company is also dedicated to growing peppers in high technology greenhouses, where we also collect the product of other farmers who also have these innovations, to package it and sell it to different marketers under the Sunset brand in the United States and Mexico. In addition these products are sold at the border under the Agreste brand.
"We also have a seedling service area, which is the plant's onion, asparagus, peppers, cubes of rock wool, and grafts maquila," he added.
Support to farmers
Agrizar has 587 farmers producing asparagus across the country, with a total of 2,400 hectares, in addition to the 87 greenhouse farmers who grow peppers, in a total of 58 hectares of greenhouses.
The farmers involved are from different parts of the country, said Alejandro Latigo, including municipalities such as Taxquillo in the state of Hidalgo, in el Bajio, Queretaro, and Michoacan, among other places in Mexico.
"Asparagus are shipped to Japan, Asia, England, some parts of Europe, USA, and Canada mainly, while the main markets for peppers are the United States and Canada, but there are some exports to Asia," he said.
The greenhouses must have cutting edge technology and the workers should follow the very strict protocols of important certifications in the agricultural sector.
"The certification implies that they follow safety procedures, which means they wash their hands, eating outside the greenhouses, among other things. The certifications allow us to put the product on the shelves in the US," he said.
He added that the different product brands of Agrizar, such as Sunset and Altar, could be found in stores like Walmart, Costco, and Superama, and that they generated 3,000 direct jobs and 15,000 indirect jobs in Mexico.
