Yuleida: The Journey of a Mexican Migrant Queen in Texas
2024
Driving through her wheat fields in West Texas, Yuleida Serrato uses her perfectly manicured nails to turn up the blasting reggaeton on her tractor.
At 26, Yuleida is no ordinary farmer. As a young Hispanic woman, she defies the odds in an agricultural industry dominated by older white men: men make up 64%, and white people 95% of U.S. agricultural producers. Yet, she symbolizes change, as one of nearly 10,000 young farmers who have joined the sector in the past five years, bringing new life to an aging industry.
“I arrive at my ranch and still can’t believe it,” Yuleida says. “For me, this seemed like something I could only have achieved with a man.”
Yuleida bought her ranch four years ago after the pandemic led her to abandon her childhood dream of working in fashion and instead follow in the footsteps of her father, a Mexican migrant farmer who taught her the secrets of the countryside.
The middle of three sisters, Yuleida grew up in Floydada, a tiny town where Hispanics and Latinos make up 65% of its fewer than 3,000 residents. Her family’s journey began decades ago when her grandfather came to the U.S. to work in the cotton fields as part of a program that brought millions of Mexicans during WWII to fill labor shortages while Americans went overseas to fight.
Yuleida’s parents moved to Floydada in the 1990s, who arrived undocumented in their early 20s, unable to speak English or drive. “I cried at night” recalls Arnold, her father. Through hard work, they began building a life, and in 2017, Arnold bought his first acres of land.
Inspired by her parents’ perseverance, Yuleida joined her father in the fields. She embodies a new generation of Mexican-Americans challenging anti-immigrant rhetoric from politicians like President Trump, who often depict Mexicans as threats to security and the economy. Yuleida and others are disproving this narrative, driving positive change, boosting the local economy, and reshaping their communities.
Last year, Yuleida installed solar panels on their land, joining the growing trend of renewable energy on U.S. farms. In Texas, the leading state in the energy transition, farm use of renewable energy has increased by 34% in the past five years.
Now, the Serrato's are waiting for six new workers from Mexico to join their ranches under a temporary agricultural worker program, which has grown exponentially in recent years. “One of them could have been my abuelito back in the day,” Yuleida says.
