The Valley & Its Farms
The Mesilla Valley is the Rio Grande floodplain around the town. Its irrigated fields have grown food for centuries, and today they grow chile, pecans, alfalfa, cotton, onions and corn.
Discover The Valley & Its Farms
A 1912 U.S. Department of Agriculture survey called the Mesilla Valley some of the oldest agricultural land in the United States, irrigated by the Pueblos long before the Spanish. (USDA soil survey, 1912)
The valley was formed by repeated spring floods of the Rio Grande and extends from Radium Springs to the west side of El Paso. Alfalfa, cotton, chile, onions and corn are cash crops, and the valley is known for wine-making that began with Spanish exploration. (Wikipedia)
In the 1850s the water was brought from the river to the fields in acequias, the shared irrigation ditches. (W. W. H. Davis, 1857)
The railroad came through the valley in 1881 and brought wider diversification of crops and more irrigation. (USDA soil survey, 1912)
Mesilla magic: The plaza, the basilica and the valley
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