Mexico is the country with the greatest diversity and production of cactus in the world. Nearly 300 species of cactus are known. There are more than 100 of the opuntia genus; therefore, it could be the center of origin because of the large numbers that inhabit the semi-arid zones.
Mexicans have the largest production of nopal vegetables in the world. It produces 600 thousand tons per year; the capital is leader only with the contribution of 280 thousand from the delegation Milpa Alta.
In Rancho Natura we have 39 hectares of certified organic cactus, our cactus melgas have a life of up to 5 years, the nopales that we use for the elaboration of our products have an age of 6 months to 1 year, each nopal can have a weight of ½ kilo and up to 3 kilos.
The tuna is a fruit of the family of cacti. It has a thick and thorny skin with a pulp abundant in seeds. It 
constitutes a food of great nutritional value, because it provides vitamins, minerals and proteins, it is juicy, healthy and with excellent properties for digestion due to the fiber contained in its seeds.
Traditionally the prickly pear cactus has been used not only as a food, but also as a powerful natural remedy to treat multiple diseases of the stomach, colds, high cholesterol, besides being an excellent food for diabetics.
In our ranch, nopales give between eight and ten prickly pears, the more prickly pears they grow, the smaller they are.
When we want to take advantage of our nopales for reproduction or exploitation of prickly pears, we have to thin, that is, remove the smaller prickly pears to preserve larger prickly pears.
Irrigation system
The nopal irrigation is very noble, that is, it does not require large amounts of water, so we wait every year for the rains. When we are in the production season of cactus juice, we are watering the melgas that we need with special water from the well.
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