News | Jan 3 that is ” is an oasis of sophistication in this mostly rural part of Mexico Colonial buildings abound in the spacious downtown Durango is a focus point for migrants heading north from the surrounding area Two Viajes America buses run from Durango to Denver weekly Vans pick up passengers in small towns such as Santiago Papasquiaro and meet up in La Granja America buses make the direct trip to Denver ” without the border transfer ” in about 22 hours Denver ranks second only to Los Angeles and Las Vegas as a travel destination with an average of 40 full seats out of 46 The reservations phone rings off the hook as Rosario Velasco explains how success has led to competition “There are five bus companies in Durango that I know of that go to the U.S.,” she said flush with dollars and not in a mood to take a bus home They ask 19-year-old taxi driver Miguel Sarellano Alvarado He can net a day’s pay ” about $20 ” on just one of those trips Sarellano doesn’t see any reason to emigrate for the time being “I’m close to my family,” he said I don’t know anything about the U.S.” the Canatlan Valley is beautiful on a sunny August afternoon juicy apples and peaches: it looks a lot like Oregon Two buses a week run from Canatlan to Denver with Viajes America Nuevo Ideal and Canatlan feed into the La Granja crossroads Nogales and Martin Lopez are among local towns that send many residents off to the U.S the mayor of Canatlan and a native of nearby La Sauceda said he’s trying to keep people here people have learned to make stone powder arts and crafts in Venustiano Carranza and dresses in El Presidio and a guest ranch has opened in El Durangueno “There’s infant malnutrition in the mountain villages so we’re teaching people to raise fish and grow greenhouse vegetables,” Diaz said “We’re training people to take advantage of our community’s natural resources.” population of the municipality ” a sort of small county of 31,500 ” is down 10 percent with about a quarter of local residents in the U.S “Emigration has accelerated,” Diaz said “We haven’t been able to retain people and most of the profits go to middlemen.” Canatlan has plenty of spirit during the apple harvest who co-owns an Internet Cafe in his hometown He said people still prefer the telephone and snail mail to chat said a quarter of Canatlan’s residents are in the U.S parents push their children to emigrate,” he said “There are hardly any families that don’t have members in the U.S.” Nunez does not expect to join the growing number of Canatlecos who go north “Schoolteachers make about $750 a month,” he said of his future career Readers around Aspen and Snowmass Village make the Aspen Times’ work possible Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage are you considering any property transactions this spring View Results This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page You probably don’t associate apple farming with Mexico especially in areas where few other commercial crops grow The main reason is that apples grow well in the high as they need the cold that would kill many other fruits Apple cultivation started only 20 years after the conquest most likely because its primary purpose was to make hard cider This kept the fruit from becoming a widespread part of the colonial diet but missionaries later did bring the tree north as they introduced agriculture to nomadic peoples apple trees can be found everywhere that they can grow in Mexico but they account for only 3% of Mexico’s commercial fruit production Most are grown in small orchards or in backyards so they have not reached their full potential as a commercial crop Most of Mexico’s 15 federally defined apple-growing regions are in the Sierra Madre Occidental stretching from Chihuahua to parts of Oaxaca and Chiapas producing anywhere from 70% to over 90% of Mexico’s apples (depending on which source you believe) Chihuahua also leads in the production of table-ready fruit but also due to a history that includes American and Canadian immigrants such as the Mennonites who were used to growing apples in their colder homelands and developed markets and introduced new technologies Most of Chihuahua’s apples are grown in and around the municipality of Cuauhtémoc packing plants and apple processing plants Puebla has the oldest apple industry in Mexico focused mostly on the municipalities of Huejotzingo and Zacatlán which eliminates much of the need for irrigation but does also potentially contribute to damage to the apples’ skins and pest infestations that can ruin whole crops Much of Durango shares the same climate advantages that Chihuahua has but a lack of private and public investment hinders the state’s farmers apple production is concentrated in and around Canatlán says Alfonso García Soto of the Sistema Productor de Manzana which represents about 100 Durango farmers The main issue is the abandonment of lands suitable for apple production because of the state’s inefficient irrigation system along with lack of access to needed technology That does not mean that those states that don’t have the production levels of the “Big 4” aren’t looking to compete better Institutions such as the Autonomous University of Querétaro have done genetic and other research to improve quantity and quality It is important to these states because apples often grow in some of their poorest municipalities Mexico meets 77% of the domestic demand for apples The average Mexican consumes only just over eight kilos per year One probable reason Mexico’s consumption is so relatively low is that it does not have a tradition of cooking the fruit that these countries do Apples are also consumed as juices or other beverages which utilize about 30% of annual production the most important apple drink is a mildly alcoholic carbonated cider traditional nationwide for Christmas and New Year’s Mexico ranks between 20th and 22nd in apple production globally Its production overall has grown only marginally since 2000 its commercial production and consumption is only regional but it is still on the federal government’s radar According to the National Agricultural Plan 2017–2030 authorities hope to increase production by 40% by 2030 The reason for the optimism is that there is much room to grow if (like in Durango) the right resources and management are available One relatively simple technology to implement is the use of special nets that cover trees during certain seasons to protect them they also provide shade during the hottest months costing hundreds of thousands of pesos per hectare which only industrial processors are interested in and for which they pay a very small amount Another area with room to grow is in agricultural tourism There are few apple farms that offer tours Harvest time is between late July and mid-October Although the “pick-your-own” concept is known which is closer to the border with the United States it has not been implemented as far as I can tell Apple towns worth visiting include Cuauhtémoc Apples mainly attract visitors to the towns proper where restaurants and specialty shops offer apples and apple preparations They generally appeal to local and regional tourists and make for great alternative weekend trips Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico 18 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture in particular its handcrafts and art. She is the author of Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta (Schiffer 2019) Her culture column appears regularly on Mexico News Daily ADVERTISE WITH MND COMMUNITY GUIDELINES Subscription FAQ's Privacy Policy Mexico News Daily - Property of Tavana LLC Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker