Planamerica, subsidiary of Planasa in Mexico, opened the Dolores Hidalgo nursery in the state of Guanajuato on June 17. The new nursery is a World Berry Nursery that is equipped with the latest technology for the production of berry plants and it complements the nursery that the company already owns in Ciudad Guzman, Jalisco.
With these strawberry and raspberry plant production centers, Planamerica has established itself as one of the companies with the greatest potential in this sector in Mexico, the world's fourth largest exporter of berries.
Planamerica officially presented its new facilities in the town of Dolores Hidalgo, state of Guanajuato, on Friday June 17. Alexandre Pierron-Darbonne, president of the Planasa Group, and Fabricio Blanco, director of Planamerica, hosted the opening ceremony, which was attended by state and municipal authorities, as well as major producers of berries that traveled from San Quintin, Baja California, Guanajuato, State of Mexico, Michoacan, and Jalisco, i.e. the most important berry producing areas in the country.
A total of 200 attendees enjoyed the visit to the facilities and the tour that company technicians gave them, where they were shown the production process for raspberry plants and the greenhouses where the strawberry plants would be grown in a modern hydroponic system.
The Dolores Hidalgo nursery covers more than 140 hectares. It has 6 hectares of greenhouses that are completely covered with plastic, divided into 65 separate tunnels that have the capacity to produce more than 100,000 plants each. As such, this area has the potential of producing more than 6.5 million raspberry plants.
The nursery has allocated another 6 hectares to the cultivation of hydroponic strawberry plants in greenhouses equipped with anti-hail mesh. Estimates are that this area will have a production potential of at least one million plants per hectare, or 6 million plants in total.
The new facilities will allow Planamerica to supply more than 500 hectares in the country with strawberry and raspberry plants in the months of June, July, and August. The company will also create 120 to 200 jobs depending on the campaign peaks. Therefore, they expects that their 2.5 million investment will see returns soon. Planamerica is sure that this nursery will help boost the region's economic activity.