volume over which to spread the costs of the facility. In such instances the owner of the

packing facility imposes quality restrictions on the outside growers since the produce will be

marketed under the packer's name.

 Gaining access to the export market is difficult, in general, for a small or intermediate

sized grower. The fixed costs of being in the export business are high enough to keep all but

a large producer from direct involvement. For small and intermediate sized growers,

intermediaries will buy from them for sale in the export market. Dissatisfaction with

intermediaries regarding how certain of the arrangements took place is common. It is impossible

to gauge the extent to which growers are poorly served or even cheated by intermediaries versus

not adequately understanding the complexities of the export market and having unrealistic

expectations.

 One option available to the large and intermediate grower of produce is sale directly onto

the domestic produce market. If a single source has adequate volume to justify hauling a

truckload to a central market, whether in Mexico City or some smaller city, there are enough

buyers to give good market access.

 Like crops, livestock production occurs on farms of all sizes. Although there are

undoubtedly exceptions, it appears that even larger facilities are not as technologically advanced

as their U.S. counterparts. In part, this is due to the higher prices of feed grains and the lower

demand for fed beef. Moreover, the tropical climate make traditional U.S. breeds and practices

less transferable than for horticultural activities. Also integration in the poultry and swine

industries is not as important in Mexico as in the United States. Regardless of the differences

between the most advanced producers and their U.S. counterparts, larger producers have