Crops Grown at Mission San Diego de Alcalá (1769)

Mission San Diego de Alcalá, founded 1769 by Franciscan friars in present-day San Diego, California, operated a diverse agricultural system:

Staple Field Crops

• Wheat — primary grain; ground for flour (tortillas, bread).
• Barley — animal feed, beer.
• Corn (Maize) — adopted from Indigenous agriculture; pozole, atole.
• Beans — protein staple; frijoles.
• Squash — calabaza; "Three Sisters" with corn/beans.

Fruits & Vineyards

• Grapes — wine (sacramental, table), raisins. First California viticulture.
• Apples, Pears, Peaches, Figs — orchard crops; fresh, dried, preserves.
• Olives — oil, curing (later missions).
• Citrus — oranges, lemons (microclimate permitting).

Vegetables & Herbs

• Chiles, onions, garlic, cilantro, lettuce, carrots, melons.

Livestock

• Cattle (longhorn ancestry), sheep (Churro), goats, horses, mules, poultry.

Economic & Cultural Role

• Fed mission community (friars, soldiers, ~1,500 neophytes at peak).
• Surplus traded to presidios, pueblos, ships.
• Introduced European agriculture to Alta California — foundation of state's ag economy.
• Irrigation: acequia system from San Diego River (engineered by Kumeyaay labor).

The mission was a self-sustaining agro-industrial complex—California's first.