Sources inform ''Globes'' that Zeraim Gedera Ltd. has inaugurated an R&D and sampling station in Mexico, which will develop tomato, cucumber and pepper varieties. $1.5 million was invested in the station. Sinaloa’s minister of agriculture and Culican dignitaries attended the ceremony.
Zeraim Gedera’s local subsidiary, Zeraim Mexico, set up the station in Culiacan, Sinaloa state, in Western Mexico. Zeraim Mexico handles the company’s business and guards its intellectual property in Mexico.
Zeraim Gedera president and CEO Ohad Zuckerman said Mexico was a source of fresh vegetables for the US, and that the new Mexican R&D station would therefore bring the company closer to the US market. The station will boost the company’s involvement in the supply chain and make it possible to respond quickly to consumer trends in the US. He said the station’s R&D activities would initially focus on developing tomato, cucumber and pepper varieties in open fields, greenhouses and net houses.
Zuckerman added that the company planned to invest $500,000 a year in developing new seed varieties for the Mexican market. Zeraim Gedera’s activities in Mexico will reach $2.5 million in 2006, and the company plans to double this figure within two years.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on April 24, 2006
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