Mexican Milk Facts

Before the Spanish landed in what is now Mexico

, there were no cattle, goats and sheep in the region. Therefore, the Mesoamerican peoples didn't have dairy products as a part of their diet. When the Spanish brought cattle to their conquered lands, they also brought with them a new source of food. They taught the indigenous peoples how to raise cattle, how to milk, and how to turn the milk into cheese. Now, more than 500 years later, large portions of Mexico have a long history of ranches. Cattle ranches, horse ranches, even a few alpaca ranches.

The history of Mexico is populated with battles for 'ownership' of the land between European and indigenous groups, as well as civil conflict between warring Indian tribes. The Spanish and Americans are the biggest players, but they also left the largest mark on Mexican culture - including farming. Ranchers could earn themselves a decent living, without having to worry about raids from tribal groups, or conflicts with the American army, once political strife settled down in the 20th century.

Horsemanship was already an ancient tradition amongst the Mexican people, but it carried little weight in the area of food production. Cattle were the most lucrative commodity, as the beasts provided a renewable food source. Villages and families would by their milk from local farmers in the 1950's, as each farm produced it's own milk as one of its products. It was a modest living for the farmers, but a living nonetheless. Quality was varied, and pasteurization was definitely not common.

An industry association for dairy farmers was conceived in the 1960's, as a partnership was thought to be beneficial by the more successful business people. In 1970 the plan was altered slightly. The National Association for the Producers of Pure Milk, or Alpura, was formed with the main goal of creating a business plan to sell fresh milk all over Mexico. The group of dairy farmers wanted to pool ideas and resources on improving the quality of milk, a wider distribution of milk and greater community resources in the farming industry.

At first Alpura's battle was difficult. They had a lot of critics, but the hardest part was competing with the powdered milk products that were so much cheaper than fresh milk. In order to achieve their goal of providing fresh milk to all of Mexico, they introduced products at very low prices. By 1971 the products were on their way across Mexico and Alpura's vision was coming to fruition. Today, Alpura is a respected 100% Mexican cooperative company offering a very diverse set of milk products.

by: Robert Nickel

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