The mission, organized by the representation of the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA) in Canada, includes interviews with directors of major supermarkets, such as Loblaws, Sobeys, and Metro, as well as with members of the Canadian offices of food inspection.
"We're joined by 18 producers from Zacatecas, Chiapas, Guerrero, Veracruz, Guanajuato, Baja California, Queretaro, Nayarit, and Morelos, who represent 10 companies," said Iker Reyes Godelmann, director of the Agricultural Council of Mexico in Canada.
He said that they had been received well which proved that the Canadians were looking towards Mexico more than to the United States because Mexican exports are still top quality, especially their fresh vegetables and fruits.
Iker Reyes said that the berries, i.e. blackberry, raspberry, blueberry and strawberry, were the product that Canada demanded the most from Mexico and that Mexican producers could supply this growing market.
Sagarpa's goal for this year is to increase Mexican exports to Canada by 15 percent.
Francisco Gamboa Rincon, director of the Consortium of Producers of Zacatecas Greenzac, traveled to Canada to offer said market quality vegetables and export capacity, especially in the long winter months.
The representative of 88 producers from Zacatecas said that additional to offering protected agricultural products, such as tomato, cucumber, bell pepper, garlic, prickly pear, carrot, and tomatillo, they also offered their greenhouse fig production to the Canadians.
He said producers, who did not export to Canada directly but supplied a distribution center of agricultural products in McAllen, Texas, United States, were starting to change their mentality.
"Our goal is to export to Canada directly. We don't want any more intermediaries because producers are only receiving 1 dollar for every 10 dollars sold, as the rest is used to pay logistics and intermediaries," he said.
He said that "a distributor requires constant volumes, a standard quality, taking care of calibers, the products' conditions, presentation, packaging, and that the boxes don't collapse."
"People want to know what varieties and certificates that evidence the quality of our products we have. They also want to know how long throughout the year they can count on having the product," he added.
The meetings, he said, have been so productive that Zacatecas might start exporting fresh produce to Canada next October.
After two days of meetings in Toronto, the delegation traveled to Ottawa on Wednesday, where they participated in a seminar with the Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Dispute Resolution Corporation in Canada (DRC).
The trade mission will end on Thursday in Montreal, where the Mexican delegates will meet with executives of the Metro, JB Laverdure, and Canadawide supermarkets.
