page_title: Agriculture in Mexico
section_title: 20th century - Land reform and Green Revolution
hierarchical_section_title: Agriculture in Mexico / History of agriculture in Mexico / 20th century - Land reform and Green Revolution
caption_attribution_description: English: Sorghum field in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico. Español: Campo de sorgo en el estado de Guanajuato, Mexico
context_page_description: Agriculture in Mexico has been an important sector of the country’s economy historically and politically even though it now accounts for a very small percentage of Mexico’s GDP. Mexico is one of the cradles of agriculture with the Mesoamericans developing domesticated plants such as maize, beans, tomatoes, squash, cotton, vanilla, avocados, cacao, various kinds of spices, and more. Domestic turkeys and Muscovy ducks were the only domesticated fowl in the pre-Hispanic period and small dogs were raised for food. There were no large domesticated animals.
  During the early colonial period, the Spanish introduced more plants and the concept of animal husbandry, principally cattle, horses, donkeys, mules, goats and sheep, and barn yard animals such as chickens and pigs. Farming from the colonial period until the Mexican Revolution was focused on large private properties. After the Revolution these were broken up and the land redistributed. Since the latter 20th century NAFTA and economic policies have again favored large scale commercial agricultural holdings.
  Mexico’s main crops include grains such as corn and wheat, tropical fruits and various vegetables.
context_section_description: The result was the Mexican Revolution from 1910 to 1920. The result afterwards was the breakup of most large private landholdings to be redistributed, especially under a system of common tenancy regulated by the government called ejidos. The lands could be worked individually or collectively by members of the ejido but the land could not be leased or sold. The process of dividing lands and developing ejido organizations continued into the 1930s under President Lázaro Cárdenas. By the end of the 1930s, haciendas almost entirely disappeared from central and southern Mexico with numerous small holdings of ten to twenty acres as well as ejidos becoming dominant.  Land reform in Mexico was an achievement of the Mexican Revolution, with the distribution of land to peasants concentrated in Mexico's center and south. The breakup of the haciendas solved a political problem in Mexico, since it was one of the demands of the peasants who fought and was enshrined. 
  By the 1930s and 40s, agricultural production was dropping and the government sought technical solutions. Soils in central Mexico were considered exhausted by use and inadequate so that the government promoted agricultural development outside the traditional areas of cultivation, particularly in northern Mexico.  In the 1940s during the presidency of Manuel Avila Camacho, the Mexican government partnered with the U.S. government, and the Rockefeller Foundation to launch the so-called Green Revolution (1950–70).  Research facilities developed new strains of wheat, maize, beans, and other crops, to engineer a variety of desirable traits, such as disease resistance, high protein content. Sorghum, a new crop was introduced to Mexico during the era of the Green Revolution, which was used for animal fodder. Mexico expanded cattle production in this era, fed on sorghum.  Seeds and inputs of fertilizer and pesticides for irrigated agriculture were suited to Mexico's northwest, but required more capital than small-scale cultivators could afford. Mexico's agricultural output between 1950 and 1970 was "truly spectacular," but it was not long lasting, subsequently called "the birth place and burial ground of the Green Revolution" Synthetic pesticides were applied to fields to control both insect infestations attacking plants, but also controlled insects that were disease vectors for humans.  Synthetic fertilizers required adequate water so that its nitrogen would not be toxic to crops. The application of both pesticides and fertilizers were applied regularly. Pemex, Mexican national oil company, and Fertimex, the national company for the production of pesticides, particularly DDT, were integral in promoting large-scale, agribusiness dependent on these synthetic inputs. In order to be competitive, Green Revolution crops had to be cultivated and harvested by machinery, which meant that it was economically viable only with large-scale farms.  
  The ejido system remained intact until the 1990s. However, during World War II, industry became the more important sector of the economy. Mexico’s rural population began to fall in the mid century, from 49.3% in 1960 to 25.4% in 2000. Federal policies outside ejidos still favored large agricultural producers over rural peasant production, including the offering of credit and protectionist policies. One of these was the construction of major irrigation systems, especially in the north. The first major irrigation project was the Laguna Project near Torreón, followed by the Las Delicias Project near Chihuahua, both with the aim of producing cotton along with wheat. These projects increased the amount of land available for agriculture from 3.7 million acres in 1950 to 8.64 million acres in 1965. In addition, the Mexican government encouraged only crops such as corn and beans, restricting imports of these two staples until 1990.
  By the 1970s, agricultural production was unable to keep up with population growth leading to imports of basic staples. The Mexican government initiated programs in the 1970s and 80s to encourage family planning and the utilizat
caption: Sorghum field in Guanajuato. Sorghum is mainly used for cattle feed in Mexico.
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