Yucatan and Canam Fresh, a love story

Yucatan, Quintana Roo, and Campeche farms provide the best natural environment to produce mid winter crops of any area we have been able to discover in North America. This Canam Fresh blog posts explains why our company has expanded into the beautiful and bountiful Yucatan peninsula as well as Quintana Roo and Campeche by acquiring several farms in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Yucatan peninsula

Per Wikimedia’s map above, the Yucatan, Quintana Roo, and Campeche states collectively represent a large area of land in southeast Mexico, near the border of Guatemala and Belize. Canam Fresh expanded its farming business into this area in 2020, 2021, and 2022 after analyzing the temperature patterns, weather conditions, and even in the cloud cover available throughout the farming year. When compared to farming almost anywhere in Canada or the US, the Yucatan, Quitana Roo, and Campeche stand apart.

To start, this area of Mexico offers ideal temperatures for farming with clear skies and low humidity. With easy access to water and labor widely available, the Yucatan peninsula and its nearby states offers a lot. And while the destination may seem remote, in fact, it offers diverse logistical advantages and access as well, which translates into quick delivery for our North American clients. We will get to those qualities in a moment. Let’s talk about the people, first.

Wholesome, hardworking people

People are probably the Yucatan, Quintana Roo, and Campeche’s greatest asset. As farmers from small towns in Ontario, we recognize and respect these wholesome, hardworking people and welcome them into our work force. We often bus workers to our farms from local villages or provide them short term housing. With few jobs available in the area, Yucatan provides us with a great source of people power. Canam Fresh also brings workers from Mexico to our farms in Canada and the US. In totality, our total operations currently employs over 1,500 workers, which benefits their families and communities.

Because we believe in our values and social responsibility, Canam Fresh provides these workers with a chance for economic prosperity, free of exploitation. We pay competitively and provide diverse benefits. And we hire from within, training our currently employees to lead the company operations in the future. Finally, we also partner with local business people, including farmers, agronomists, seed breeders, logistics professionals, construction companies, and diverse other specialists. Clearly, the expansion of Canam Fresh represents a good news story for both our company and the Yucatan.

What about the water supply?

For obvious reasons, access to clean water remains top-of-mind for every farmer. Fortunately, Yucatan and Campeche have more underground water than most areas. Their rainy season extends from June to October. During the winter, Yucatan experiences low rainfall and lots of sun, which translates into perfect growing conditions.

Logistical advantages

Finally, Yucatan’s location in the Gulf of Mexico provides big logistical advantages, including access. With ocean freight to McAllen, Texas, Panama City, Florida and Tampa, Florida three times a week, and twice a day during transit times, Yucatan’s modern ports make logistics quick for Canadian and American clients. It takes one day to load and one day to unload with an ocean freight capacity of approximately 160,000 bushels per week.

Freight travel to McAllen area requires only four to five days and has proven consistent and cost-effective, providing a valuable logistics solution for our food enterprise customers in Canada and the US. Whether by rail, road, or ocean, Canam Fresh Logistics is ready to ship our produce items to you, fresh and on time.

Production success

Last but not least, in the past two years, Canam Fresh has achieved outstanding yields at our farms in Yucatan, including a successful cucumbers pilot project that produced its first 300+ loads with outstanding results. We plan to farm pickling and slicing cucumbers, eggplant, squash, peppers and specialty peppers, melons, and possibly green beans at our farms in Yucatan, Quitana Roo, and Campeche with possible expansion in coming seasons.

As always, Canam Fresh Logistics is involved to ensure we have the facilities we need to scale. Our recent expansion in the beautiful city of Merida in the Yucatan includes the addition of a huge, state-of-the-art, climate-controlled warehouse! With the help of our many amigos and socios, we look forward to filling it with wholesome goodness in the years ahead.