The campo area surrounding San Miguel de Allende is largely agricultural and has at times been called the breadbasket of central Mexico. However in contrast to the US a lot of these small farms are extremely manual and do not have the vast resources that the corporate farms in the US process.
We have been told by our neighbors that for most of these farmers and the small shepherds whose herds graze in the surrounding areas that it is hit or miss on whether they can provide the necessary financial resources to make it to the next year.
So as Billie has been saying in her blog the weather here has turned down right cold and the growing season is quickly coming to an end. Over the past week as Jo Ann and I have been riding around the campo I have been amazed at the degree of success some farmers have achieved compared to others.
Here is a good example of two adjacent small farms. One planted alfalfa and is harvesting probably the last of a successful harvest, the other planted corn too early in the year and will harvest nothing.
A big difference between successful and unsuccessful farmers is the availability of irrigation. Here in Mexico they still are using very primitive irrigation methods, but to have access to a well certainly improves your success ratio. As you can see here, this farmer did not have access to irrigation and planted his corn too early. 
Not only do some farmers not have access to irrigation, some don't even have access to mechanical equipment. As you can see this farmer is still using a burro and a horse to plow his fields.
So on this day after the US Thanksgiving Day as most Americans head out to their local malls for black Friday shopping, please stop and consider how the majority of the world lives. Here in the campo for many a day of giving thanks is just a warm casa with enough food on the table. I love living here in Mexico, it has opened my eyes and mind to understanding what is important to us and the value of friendship and adventure.
3 comments:
Hola Jon -
Interesting comparison there between fincas (or are they ranchos there?).
Over here on the east coast of Mexico it also is cold (relatively)- it is in the high 40's at night right now - but beautiful days in the high sixties and soon middle seventies.
Stay warm my friend.
Juan Calypso
Jon, I think this year that we had some rain in early June and then not much rain until late in July. Had to be horrible for the farmers who don't have any means of irrigation. Warming up here in town. How about the campo?
I agree that I think the early rain and then the dry period is what caused a lot of the small farmers to plant early. These seem to be the ones who were not able to yield any harvest.
This morning it was again -1 but it is now warming up nicely.
Post a Comment