The future is green
'Pasaporte Verde' is creating higher profits and yields for Latin-American exporters.
Mexico is one of the main exporters of agricultural products to the U.S., and its $30 billion value makes it the third-most important source of foreign exchange income. However, in recent years global legislation around food safety requirements have included stricter regulations on chemical residue levels. Of the rejected Latin-American exports, 78% were Mexican and 60% of that was due to excess chemical residue and/or use of non-authorized crop protection products.
UPL saw an opportunity to offer product and services to agricultural exporters and farmers that would enable them to meet lower residue levels required by international law. After five years of field trials, we created ‘Pasaporte Verde’ (‘Green Passport’), which included 30 UPL products and product platforms, such as ProNutiva and the ‘Aplique Bem’ (‘ApplyWell’) crop protection training program, which is provided free of charge.
UPL and Global Gap* entered into a non-promotional agreement to further expand the concepts behind the program, and ‘Pasaporte Verde’ products are now being used by several major berry and vegetable exporters, including California-based Driscoll’s.
As a unique proposition from UPL that cannot be emulated by other crop protection companies, ‘Pasaporte Verde’, together with ProNutiva, have already achieved sales of $9 million, with a 7.5% - 8% market share. Our aim is to invest further resources into ‘Pasaporte Verde’ so that more exporters can benefit from the plan, expanding it to other crops in the near future.
