http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mp ... ss/3240363

June 24, 2005, 10:58PM



Daniel Pepper / For the Chronicle
Hipolito Cuauhtémoc will stop harvesting apples in the Mexican state of Hidalgo after 22 years. The North American Free Trade Agreement has allowed imports of low-cost Washington state apples, and Cuauhtémoc says it is too hard to compete.


A GROWING PROBLEM
Farmers fear U.S. exports
'How is the Third World supposed to trade with the First World?'
By ELIZA BARCLAY
Houston Chronicle Foreign Service

A CAXOCHITLAN, MEXICO - Hipolito Cuauhtémoc has worked as an apple farmer in the small central state of Hidalgo for 22 years, but he says this year's harvest in orchards that stretch over a few acres will be his last.

"The prices have dropped too low, and people want to eat the shiny red apples from Washington state â€â€