JULY - AUGUST 202519It is nothing new to say that Mexico has tremendous potential to compete in international markets in agtech. This conversation has been going on since I can remember but we have not seen its full potential deployed. How can this be done? What is missing? My experience launching Rising Farms might help partially answer some of these questions.Rising Farms was born in 2020 with the need to somehow, transform the agricultural industry in Mexico. This is easier said than done. We are not there yet, but we will get there. I have seen flashes of how can this transformation start with the following 4 pillars:· Scalability: the high costs of construction of new facilities in the greenhouse industry have slowed down its growth. Very few good players have the money to grow fast and take advantage of the economies of scale that come with it. Organic growth of 1 or 2 hectares per year will not make a difference in the big picture. If the know-how is there, the potential can be scaled faster. According to a database from Queretaro state, there are 116 operations of less than 1 hectare, meaning the industry is pulverized in very small producers. Additionally, I remember that some years ago, reading a study from the Dutch embassy that stated that 60% of the protected agriculture industry in Mexico was non-operational due to different reasons, made me realize how can we take advantage of this and lease those facilities instead of constructing our own. That is how our business model started.· Access to Financing: my experience has been that almost no one lends money to startups in agriculture. How can new ideas come forward and entrepreneurs thrive if the industry is WHAT DOES MEXICAN AGRICULTURE NEED TO TRULY EXPLOIT ITS POTENTIAL IN INTERNATIONAL MARKETS?BY MAURICIO RICAUD, FOUNDER & CEO, RISING FARMSCXO INSIGHTS
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