In its beginnings Mexicali was an important center for cotton production for export until synthetic fabrics reduced the worldwide demand for the fiber.
Currently horticulture is the most successful agricultural activity with scallion (green onion), and asparagus being among the most important crops. Cotton and wheat are still cultivated but with government price guarantees and subsidies making wheat farmer protests an annual event. There is an annual agribusiness fair in March drawing interested people from all over Mexico and the United States called Agrobaja.
The current prospects for economic growth in Mexicali rely on in-bond and assembly plants, mainly for export, including companies like, Selther, Daewoo, Mitsubishi, Honeywell, Paccar, Vitro, Skyworks Solutions, CareFusion, Bosch, Price Pfister, Gulfstream, Goodrich, Kenworth and Kwikset. Mexicali is also home to many food processing plants such as Nestlé, Jumex, Bimbo, Coca-Cola, Kellogg, and Sabritas.
There are joint efforts on behalf of the Baja California government and the private sector to attract more companies to Mexicali based on a cluster strategy focusing on the regions' strengths of qualified labor, abundant energy and water supplies, a pro-business environment and its location on the California border.
Mexicali is considered among the most prosperous cities in Mexico, although US tourists can observe the level of poverty in rural villages surrounding the modern, upper-middle class enclave of Mexicali proper. There is recent research that indicate a high level of disease prevalence like respiratory illness,asthma,and other medical issues in the local inhabitants. The North American Free Trade Agreement of 1994 that eliminated most trade restrictions between the two nations offers Mexicali an economic boom in the next decade
