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Organic tomatoes from Mexico desert : a luxury food
Mexico
Friday 23 July 2010
FJ
Organic tomatoes are considered as a "luxury" product on the American market.
The organic tomato, a luxury food item in the United States, is being cultivated in semi-desert conditions in parts of northwestern Mexico.
Hundreds of organic fruit and vegetable plantations dot the landscape of Mexico's Baja California peninsula which are exclusively dedicated to the export towards the United States.
Crops are grown amid sand and cactus in a semi-desert climate, sheltered from the sun by a series of tents and irrigated with drip, or trickle.
Organic products only represents 2 % of the total U.S. For Mexicans which invested this market, organic tomatoes are very profitable, a pound of tomatoes is sold in the USA approximately 5 $.
Mexico is the first salesman of fruit and vegetables in the USA. The agriculture department says Mexico produced 2.2 million tons of tomatoes in 2008, although that entity does not distinguish between conventional and organic varieties.
Source : noticias mexico, el periodico, la prensa.
