Patterns and Drivers of Sustainable Agricultural Practice Adoption Among Mennonite Farmers in a Closed Endorheic Basin of Northern Mexico

Agricultural sustainability in closed endorheic basins is constrained by periodic water scarcity, hydrological isolation, and the cumulative effects of intensive land use. The Cuauhtémoc region of northern Mexico hosts long-established Mennonite farming communities whose mechanized and irrigation-dependent agriculture constitutes an important component of the regional economy and resource-use system. This study examined the prevalence, diversity, and drivers of sustainable agricultural practices among 95 Mennonite farmers in the Bustillos Lagoon region. Thirteen practices spanning soil and residue management, water conservation, biological soil-fertility management, and agrochemical stewardship were assessed, while a conservation-practice breadth indicator quantified the number of ten resource-management practices used by individual farmers. Among 92 farmers with complete practice data, conservation-practice breadth ranged from 2 to 8 practices (mean = 3.76 ± 1.06). Residue incorporation (98.9%), residue cover (89.4%), and rainwater collection (71.0%) were widespread, whereas zero tillage (1.1%), compost/leachate use (5.3%), mycorrhiza application (5.3%), and reduced tillage (8.5%) were uncommon. Robust Poisson regression showed that technical assistance was associated with a 37.8% higher expected conservation-practice count (IRR = 1.378, 95% CI 1.168-1.626, p < 0.001), while environmental concern was associated with an 18.7% higher count (IRR = 1.187, 95% CI 1.017-1.385, p = 0.030). Water-supply problems, farm area, producer-organization membership, and education showed no independent associations. The findings demonstrate that sustainable management is better characterized as a heterogeneous portfolio of practices than as a binary adoption decision and highlight institutional support and environmental orientation as important correlates of management diversification in water-constrained agricultural landscapes.