Mechanical harvest a success at AgReserves’ Mexico operation

Taking a second crack at a mechanical harvest led to an impressive first at AgroReservas de México (ARM).

A mechanical approach was initially tried at AgReserves’ Mexico operation about 20 years ago, but it was soon discontinued. Under the leadership of current General Manager José Rangel, and armed with a new determination to succeed with a mechanical harvest, the farm recently produced its best potato crop ever.

“We’ve just had the biggest yielding year in our history,” José says. “We’ve gone from average yields to above-average yields to phenomenal yields.”

The No. 1 crop at the farm, which sits on nearly 5,000 acres in Los Mochis in northern Sinaloa, Mexico, is potatoes. ARM’s second-largest crop is seed corn, and that is followed by commercial sorghum and seed sorghum.

Combining harvesting mechanically in the field with front-end loaders for planting and new bulk storage capable of holding 3,000 tons of potatoes on site has provided many benefits, including trimming work hours and allowing for a hedge against a hand-labor force that is shrinking globally. It also gets the farm more aligned with other operations in AgReserves’ Row Crops Division.

The farm started using technologies that are in use at AgriNorthwest, a flagship operation of AgReserves located in Washington. “We’re just trying to see if it makes sense to use them over here, and it does,” says José, who became the GM at AgroReservas de México in January 2022.? “A lot of them do.”

ARM’s success has not gone unnoticed.

“Considering the multiple choices involved in selecting ways that an operation can improve, it becomes easy to be overwhelmed by the magnitude of tasks that stand before you,” Row Crops Division Vice President Pat Tolman says. “However, José and his exceptional team have been instrumental in evaluating and addressing the most pressing key initiatives.”

One of the biggest obstacles for ARM is the soil. In Los Mochis, and throughout Sinaloa, the soil is perfect for growing many types of crops. Unfortunately, the list doesn’t include potatoes.

“The soils have big holding capacities with water and nutrients,” José explains. “In places in the U.S. like AgriNorthwest, leaching (the loss of water-soluble plant nutrients from the soil to rain and irrigation)?is a big problem due to sandy soils. Here in Los Mochis, leaching is not a problem. The soil holds moisture and nutrients really well. That means your corns, your sorghums, your peppers, your tomatoes are going to do great. Anything that’s underground struggles because of the muck. If you over-irrigate, you’re going to rot everything that’s underneath. That is the challenge, but we’ve been very successful.”

The combination of a good team and good weather is what makes it work.

“As a farmer, you appreciate weather in a different way than if you’re not a farmer,” says José, who was born in Mexico and raised in Oregon. “We live with The Weather Channel, just checking out the forecast on a daily basis. Mother nature was good to us this year, but it also takes a great team to pull it off, and we did.”

While striving to improve production in the fields, the ARM team has made safety its top priority. According to José, everyone has fully embraced AgReserves’ “Choose Safety Always” campaign.

“I’m most proud that my team has appreciated that we’re watching out for them, and we want them to be safe,” he says. “We want to create a farm that’s safe, where employees don’t have to worry about getting injured. We see in the morale that they appreciate that we care about them.”

José knows that as an operation in the Row Crops Division, there are high standards. It’s another challenge that he and his team are eager to meet.

“We also want to produce leaders,” he says, “and we want to produce crops with good people. Everyone in the Row Crops Division knows that, and we’re all aligned. We’re changing the culture of many things.”

Pat Tolman agrees with that assessment.

“ARM has accomplished great improvements in production, innovation, safety, and employee working and housing conditions,” Pat says. “Every year the Mexico team is finding new ways to raise expectations and to achieve the goals that have been established.”

AgReserves, Inc., is a privately held, for-profit, diversified multinational agriculture company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. We invest and operate in every region of the United States and in several countries around the world. Visit our website at?https://www.agreserves.com?to read about exciting job opportunities.

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