Jose L. Aguiar, Vegetable Crops/Small Farms Advisor

760/863-7949 or jlaguiar@ucdavis.edu.  

Introduction: Bell pepper production is one of the most important crops grown in the Coachella Valley. One of the most important areas for bell pepper production is in Sinaloa, Mexico. Sinaloa exports to the US 16.9 million boxes, or 170,976 tons of bell peppers with a gross value of 194 Million Dollars. Various production systems can be observed as well as various levels of technological applications. The three main systems that can be observed are: field, greenhouse (invernadero) and shade house (maya sombra) production systems. The latter two fall under a category referred to as protected agriculture.

 

Shade House, Maya Sombra Production

Green house production

Sinaloa: Sinaloa has 300,000 hectares in agricultural production, of these 85,000 hectares are in vegetable crop production. Sinaloa has nine agricultural areas. Each of these areas is represented by a grower's organization. The organizations are united under the organization of CAADES: Confederacion de Asociaciones Agricolas del Estado de Sinaloa. CAADES has established CIDH: Centro para la investigacion y defensa de las hortalizas (Center for research and defense of vegetables). CIDH has a web site where they list their responsibilities:  http://www.cidh.org.mx/cidh2.php. CIDH serves as the main site for information of the agricultural producers.

1,500,000 hectares in agricultural production

800,000 hectares are irrigated

450,000 hectares in corn production

115,000 hectares in bean production

 85,000 hectares in vegetable production = 210,039 acres in vegetable production

 80,000 hectares in fruit production

 60,000 hectares in garbanzo production

 20,000 hectares in sugarcane production

 15,000 hectares in potato production

 Grower Organizations:  The grower organizations are named after their main source of water. These are the organizations and the acreage reported.

 AARC: Asociacion de Agricultrores del Rio Culiacan (web site: http://www.aarc.com.mx/index2.htm) 14,673 hectares in vegetable production.

 AARB: Asociacion de Agricultrores del Rio Baluarte. 7,214 hectares in vegetable production.

 AARSP: Asociacion de Agricultrores del Rio Sinaloa Pte. (www.aarsp.com) 15,107 hectares in vegetable production.

 AARFS:Asociacion de Agricultrores del Rio Fuerte Sur. 10,751 hectares in vegetable production.

 AARE: Asociacion de Agricultrores del Rio Elota. 3,601  hectares in vegetable production.

 AARLC: Asociacion de Agricultrores del Rio Las Canas. 3,771  hectares in vegetable production

 AARFN: Asociacion de Agricultores del Rio Fuerte Norte. 7,251 hectares in vegetable production.

 AARM: Asociacion de Agricultores del Rio Mocorito 4,510 hectares in vegetable production

 AARS: Asociacion de Agricultores del Rio San Lorenzo. 1,403 hectares in vegetable production.

The federal regulatory agency SAGARPA: Secretaria de Agricultura, Ganaderia, Desarrollo Rural, Pesca y Alimentacion (similar to the United States Department of Agriculture) collects production data and conducts agricultural research in Mexico.

Foundacion Produce is an organization that promotes agricultural research in Sinaloa. It is also a federal program with offices in agricultural states. In Sinaloa they publish a wide range of articles that would be similar to extension publications. http://www.fps.org.mx/10_quienes_somos.php 

The first phase of my sabbatical involved visiting researchers from the University of Sinaloa in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico. My hosts were: M.C. Guadalupe Rocha Reyes, Director,  Universidad Autonoma de Sinaloa (UAS), Roberto Gastelum Luque and Tirzo P. Godoy Angulo, Agronomy Faculty from UAS.  The web site for UAS is: http://fa.uasnet.mx/FacAgronomia.html.  

Dr. Tirzo P. Godoy, Universidad Autonoma de Sinaloa

I was invited to give three separate presentations at the Universidad Autonoma de Sinaloa to the Agronomy students and faculty. My first presentation was on Vegetable Production in the Coachella Valley (04/05/06). My second presentation was Bell Pepper Diseases and Insect Problems in the Coachella Valley (04/19/06). Sinaloa does not have Extension Agents and my hosts were very interested in the role of Extension, so my third presentation was on University of California Cooperative Extension, and Agriculture and Natural Resources (05/30/06).

Mr. Guadalupe Rocha was very interested in developing a formal relationship with the University of California. I suggested that we develop a memorandum of understanding between our two Universities. Mr. Rocha would like to be able to sponsor joint educational programs and invite UC Faculty and personnel to Sinaloa.

My main goal was to investigate bell pepper production practices in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, near the city of Culiacan, tour bell pepper fields and specialty crop fields, visit with growers and visit packing houses and cold storage facilities. At first I was only invited to bell pepper fields. I asked my hosts to arrange for greenhouse tours and was soon invited to observe greenhouse bell pepper production. There are three main production practices: field, greenhouse and shade house production. The industry is moving to greenhouse and shade house production not just of bell peppers, but also cucumber and tomatoes. Growers use wooden stakes, plastic mulch and drip tape very similar to California growers. Where the differences are in the length of the growing season, Sinaloa has a six month harvesting period that begins in December and ends in May. California pepper growing seasons tend to be much shorter and subject to extreme changes in temperature. Growers in Mexico have to provide housing, medical care for the employees and they also have to provide schooling for the children. Agricultural workers work a longer work week than industrial workers in Mexico and a six day workweek is normal. Wages are also significantly lower in Mexico, $10.00 a day.

Bell Pepper Packing House

School for farmworker children

Pepper diseases in Sinaloa are very similar to the California. Growers in Sinaloa had very serious outbreaks of Tomato Spotted Wilt in peppers and in tomatoes. There were serious Alternaria post-harvest problems on pepper fruit. I found Fusarium and Phytophora to be widespread. When soils become contaminated, growers just moved to the next field. There are large areas where peppers can not be grown directly in the soil. Greenhouse culture uses growing media, so they are able to use the same area for production. With proper practices, greenhouses can limit entry of insect pests.  Growers also practiced very stringent sanitation practices in and around greenhouses.

The region has serious whitefly infestations, growers use of harsh materials resulted in outbreaks of leafminer and severe defoliation on peppers. I found that growers used two materials: Neem seed oil sprays and Garlic sprays. The garlic material seems to work as a repellant. Toward the end of the pepper season Pepper weevil populations increase so much that control is not economically feasible. I learned that growers have a very intensive monitoring program for pepper weevil and that this allows them to do spot treatments instead of whole field treatments. I also learned that a common practice is to physically remove infected fruit from the field for destruction.

Sinaloa has a large pool of qualified greenhouse managers who were  trained in Europe. One can find greenhouse technology from Spain, Netherlands, France and Israel. Mexico is also offering greenhouse management classes: (unfortunately I found out about them to late to participate in the course)  http://www.intagri.com.mx/

UC should encourage Farm Advisor participation in these classes. They have a lot of literature available on greenhouse production. There is a lot of expertise in this field and we should be tapping into it.

Most of the greenhouse pepper varieties are European. These tend to be smaller and blocky in shape and size. They grow many different colored bell pepper fruit and now mini bell peppers.

I had hoped to attend Agro Expo in February 2006 when I arrived in Culiacan. The Expo however was held in January, so I was not able to attend. The next Agro Expo Sinaloa was held on Feb 7-10, 2007 and I again could not attend. Expo Agro 2007 Program

17^th International Pepper Conference: I was involved with the 17^th International Pepper Conference held in May 2006 in Palm Springs, California. I had helped arrange for a pepper variety trial and I also assisted with bell pepper field tours for about 200 conference participants in the Coachella Valley. The California Pepper Commission members requested that I share my research on bell peppers in Sinaloa at the conference. My conference presentation of May 21, 2006 can be accessed at: http://www.internationalpepper.com/

Pepper Workgroup: As a consequence of my sabbatical, I realized that there was a need for a pepper workgroup within ANR. I am currently involved in setting up a pepper workgroup within ANR. The first pepper workgroup meeting was held in January 2007 at UC Davis. Temporary funds have been made available to fund the workgroup. The website for the Pepper Workgroup is:  http://groups.ucanr.org/PepperWorkgroup

Ensenada and Baja California: The second phase of my sabbatical involves the investigation of green onion and radish production practices in the Mexican State of Baja California Norte; a large production area that encompasses Mexicali, Ensenada and south to San Quintin. The state of Baja California has no extension agents. My hosts for this area were: Mr. Jorge Sepulveda B., INIFAP: Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales Agricolas y Pecuarias and Fernando Sanchez Galicia, Ensenada SAGARPA. Mr. Sepulveda gave me general crop information and outlined the main agricultural crops. Mr. Galicia shared the agricultural production acreage reports. These are not currently posted online.

Around the Ensenada area there are 1,283 hectares in green onion production, 206 hectares in radish production and 5,556 hectares in tomato production. In the San Quintin area there are 1,343 hectares in strawberry production. There are 3,575 hectares in wine grape production. The main problem in the area is the lack of irrigation water. Salt water intrusion into the aquifers remains a major problem. San Quintin is also becoming a major shade cloth production area for tomatoes, cucumber and bell peppers.

My other host for this area was Dr. Victor Wegryzn a California State Polytechnic University, Pomona professor has expertise in this area and crops. We visited asparagus fields and packing house (SAHARA Packing). We also visited several organic farmers in the area. The farms we visited have very limited irrigation water and the quality of the water is becoming more and more saline. As in Sinaloa, most of the produce produced is for export to the United States.

Benefits to Cooperative Extension: I brought back to my program, and possibly the statewide program, ideas from another country that have already proven beneficial for my outreach and research activities- to large and small farms and minority outreach programs relating to bell pepper production. I have shared my knowledge gained at the 17th International Pepper Conference. Local growers have asked that I share the knowledge and have made a presentation for Coachella Valley growers and I also made a presentation at the Vegetable Crops Conference at UC Davis in January 2007. I have also shared the information with growers at a field day in Holtville, California and at Ag-Summit held in Yuma, Arizona.  I have brought back to California information related to field, greenhouse and shade house production of bell peppers. I have also learned some new pest control methods that may be applicable to the Coachella Valley. 

I have many people to thank for assisting me: The following advisors assisted with program questions relating to my area of responsibilities while I was on sabbatical and I wish to thank them for their assistance:

Michael Rethwisch: handled field and vegetable calls, Tom Turini: handled vegetable disease calls, Milt McGiffen: handled vegetable production and weed control calls, Ramiro Lobo: handled calls relating to small farms, Carmen Gispert handled miscellaneous calls to our office.

Other important information:

2007 Coachella Valley Farmers Educational Meetings  Cooperative educational project with the USDA-NRCS, the Coachella Valley Resource Conservation District, Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District and the Coachella Valley Water District. The Coachella Valley Farmers Educational meeting schedule is posted in the calendar section.

Cover crops for the Coachella Valley. Cooperative project with Dr. Milton McGiffen Jr., and Dr. Jeff Ehlers. You can download the article: Cowpeas as a cover crop