THE REPORT OF JORGE PÉREZ
More than 50 years ago in Mexico a big cactus were found in the desert of Chihuahuan. Their owner, Jorge Pérez, found the creature in the sand and said he thought he saw it somewhere. It was still alive. Since then, Mexico has seen the world’s best cacti. And the best? It’s still growing.
On its own.
Mexico is home to a significant portion of the world’s most productive cacti. Their numbers are exploding. And their numbers are at an all time high given that the population is already rising because of the massive amounts of water from our Great Lakes, the natural and chemical resources that sustain them, and forage over millions of acres in Mexico.
“You have all these cacti, they’re here every day,” said Mexican Agriculture Department official Carlos Villarreal. “They’re here forever … they’re just waiting. A big cactus doesn’t have to wait much longer.”
Pérez once told the story of an American farmer, who stumbled upon a white cactus growing along his farm in the San Juan Mountains. “It’s only 50 years old,” said the Mexican agriculture official. This time he discovered a beautiful new cactus. He got it ready. “This is not old.”
The cactus will take nearly 200 pounds of water to grow in Mexico, and be around 50 feet long. Villarreal says this is how the industry.