86-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September IS, 2001
Lester Burkholder ing the example of their Russian
Special to Lancaster Fanning ancestors and called them
MEXICO Four hundred “Campos.”
miles south of El Paso, Texas, is a Each Campo of 25-30 families
thriving farming community, is surrounded by around 3,600
Surrounded by arid desert, the acres, with about 2.5 miles to the
Pictured is a house in Campo 3 which was built in Man
itoba Canada, dismantled loaded on a train and brought
to Mexico in 1922 when the owner immigrated to Mexico.
area is home to 30,000 Mennon
ites.
A high plateau puts their set
tlement into semi arid zone
where crops can be grown.
Traveling by train from Cana
da in 1922 has proven to be a
success. Today’s farmers’ grand
parents chartered whole trains to
take their cattle and equipment.
Some even disassembled their
houses to bring along to start sub
duing the untamed wilderness of
Mexico.
They purchased an entire
mountain valley, about SO miles
long and 20 miles wide, for their
new home. Settling in this deso
late area where the sagebrush
tumbled among a few rangy cat
tle, the Mennonites started con
verting it into a thriving asset to
the economy of Mexico.
These immigrants to Mexico,
often called “Old Colony Men
nonites,” built their homes clus
tered in small villages follow
An Indian boy hired by a Campo keeps the free ranging
cows from getting into the crops. Each farmer lets his
cow into the village street in the morning where the des
ignated caretaker collects and takes them to the range
land to graze for the day.
Every morning the village street is lined with these
small wagons, holding milk cans awaiting pickup. The
milk is collected each morning by this milk truck and
taken to the local cheese factory. The cans are emptied
and returned to be washed.
Farming In Mexico
next Campo. Each family owns
their ground purchased from the
governing body overlooking the
land purchases.
A Growing Community
Today, the closest town,
Cuauhtemoc, has grown from a
dusty cattle town to a thriving
metropolis catering to the needs
and marketing the products this
community produces.
Oats for Quaker Oats, white
com for the famous Mexican tor
tillas, beans the Mexican staple,
Mennonite cheese, a Latin Amer
ican favorite, and various fruits
are flowing from this community.
What is life like for these farm
ers, who still speak the language
of their forefathers, low German,
in the heartland of Mexico?
These farmers face many of
the same challenges U.S. farmers
do, plus many others not com
mon to the U.S. Large variations
in the value of their money, the
peso, make buying and selling a
challenge.
An undependable supply sys
tem and the extremely high cost
of borrowing money (15-25 per
cent is common), are factors
which hinder them.
Living in the semi arid moun
tain plains east of the Mexican
Rockies makes rainfall unpre
dictable. Three years of drought
in five is common. Irrigation is
needed to grow a good crop year,
yet the water supply is extremely
limited.
Unfortunately, rain is nonex
istent over the winter and the
rainy season usually does not
start until late June or early July.
Unless a farmer has access to
irrigation, crops are not planted
until the rains start. Also being
situated at a high elevation
brings a risk of early frost, thus
the growing season is relatively
short. Constant wind makes wind
erosion a problem.
Dairy farming is very common
and most farmers have 8-12
cows, however, some modem
parlor type milking barns scat
tered throughout the community
house herds up to 80 cows.
They milk them by hand or
with a milking machine plac
ing the milk in cans much as
dairy farmers in U.S. did 50 years
ago. Most of the milk is used to
produce cheese.
The milk is not cooled. The
evening milk is placed into cans,
and the next morning milk is
added. About mid-moming it is
picked up, taken to the local
cheese factory, and processed.
The whey is saved and taken
to a drying facility, which is then
used to make baby food.
In some of the Campos, all of
the individual farmers’ cows and
heifers are gathered into a group,
herded to a common pasture land
to graze for the day. A designated
youth on horseback watches over
them all day.
At evening milking time, the
herd is brought back to the
Campo. Each animal knows its
home in the village, and goes
there without help.
The small individual cheese
factory cannot afford pasteuriza
tion or modem processing equip
ment. Neither can the small
herds afford refrigeration.
In the northern part of the col
ony six cheese factories and 1,500
fanners, are forming a co-op type
partnership and building a large
modem milk processing plant.
It is planned that the milk will
be picked up after every milking,
pasteurized, and processed.
Amish and Mennonite commu
nities throughout the U.S. are
giving monetary support.
Campo 4 has bunt a modem
dry-lot, milking parlor dairy
farm with the capacity of 600
cows. At the present time, they
are milking 240 cows at this fa
cility.
Because the milk is refrigerat
ed, they are receiving a
10-peso-per-liter premium. The
cows are owned by individual
people who are also responsible
to provide a share of the dairies
feed supply.
These owners also have first
opportunity to work for this com
munity project and receive
wages. This program was also
helped by the Amish of the U.S.
Milk is the main source of in
come for most of the families.
Most milk is still shipped in cans,
but bulk tanks are gaining in
popularity.
Irrigation, Raising Corn
Being located in an area where
rainfall is not dependable, irriga
tion is relied on where water is
available. Most farms have long
rectangular shaped fields 1.5
miles long and 400 feet wide.
The irrigation overflow is di
rected to a holding pond to be
used by a neighboring farmer, so
no water is wasted.
The com is left in the field
until the moisture is low enough
to store and yields of 200 plus
bushels per acre are almost guar
anteed. They grow mostly white
com for tortillas, but also pinto
beans.
Many native poor people glean
the fields after they have been
harvested with the combines. Al
most without exception the
gleaners are welcomed, as they
reduce the chance of volunteer
com the following year. By glean
ing the Mennonites’ fields, many
Mexicans store a lull years sup
ply of food for their families.
Here a Mennonite farmer grinds com fodder for his
cows. Three bales of corn fodder, a gallon tin of shelled
corn, and a gallon tin of concentrate equals a Mexican
TMR.
Since the rains come in late
July, some com is planted for the
fodder. Almost all the land is
planted in oats, in hope of a grain
crop, but used for animal feed if
not enough rain arrives.
Because of the lay of the land
and surrounding mountains, only
about a third of the valley has
wafer available for irrigation.
There is drastic difference in the
type of farming and the prosperi
ty of its farmers. Those who have
access to water to irrigate have
equipment and homes, which
would be comparable to a U.S.
farmer.
Whole families are often seen
hoeing by hand, following an an
cient John Deere. The men and
boys commonly wear bib overalls
and a big white cowboy hat. The
women and girls wear dark large
print dresses wearing a large
brimmed straw hat with a ribbon
around the crown and under the
chin.
Initially, the Mennonites used
adobe brick as a building materi
al, later covered with a concrete
mix to protect the adobe from
weathering. Today, almost all
buildings are built with poured
concrete.
After switching from adobe,
brick to concrete, they combined
an implement shed, bam, and
Two Mennonite boys heading for town.
home in one large building, as
was their custom brought from
Canada.
Today, however, they are
building their homes similar to
ranch homes in the U.S. They are
also starting to color the concrete
with various shades.
Vehicles
Most of the equipment and ve
hicles brought from the U.S. and
Canada are well used.
Pickups more than 10 years
old to be used by farmers can be
Eurchased in the states and
rought into Mexico without pay
ing duty.
Numerous Mennonites earn
their livelihood going to the states
to find tractors and pickups to
supply dealers with well-used
equipment and pickups.
In 1996, the new colony “Colo
nia El Valle” was formed. Ap
proximately 25,000 acres were
purchased for $2OO an acre.
Today, the barren land is home
to 50 young families, growing
mainly cotton and com, along
with some sorghum and wheat.
Living in small prefab homes or
travel trailers and then building
homes in their spare time, they
have brought this desert into
bloom.
A modem cotton gin site sits
on the edge of the thriving vil
lage. Other than operating the
store, all the families are tilling
the soil. Two hundred feet below
the ground is an abundant source
of water which made this possi
ble.
Some homes are finished, land
scaped with shrubs and trees,
while others live in trailers and
are building new homes. Imple
ment sheds are scattered
throughout the village shielding
the farm machinery from the de
sert sun. However, making sure
the crops have adequate water is
the main thrust of these young
farmers’ work.
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