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Milpa is a crop-growing system used throughout Mesoamerica. The word milpa is a Mexican Spanish term meaning "field," and is derived from the Nahuatl (language of the Aztecs) phrase mil-pa "to the field". Based on the ancient agricultural methods of Maya, Zapotec and other Mesoamerican peoples, milpa agriculture produces maize (corn), beans, and squash, along with other crops reflecting local conditions.
Agronomists point out that the system is designed to create relatively large yields of food crops without the use of artificial pesticides or fertilizers, and they point out that it is self-sustaining at current levels of consumption. Milpa crops are nutritionally and environmentally complementary. Maize lacks the amino acids lysine and tryptophan, which the body needs to make proteins and niacin; Beans have both lysine and tryptophan, Squashes provide an array of vitamins. The milpa, in terms of maintaining soil fertility, and providing a variety of healthy foods, and limiting environmental impacts of food production, may well be one of the most successful human inventions ever created.
In San Felipe del Agua—the Oaxaca community that is the focal point for this project—milpa is more than the fields and crops, it is a network of families, commerce and practices some of which are very old. The milpa of San Felipe is traditional knowledge, hand made tools, the Zebu crossed criollo cattle used for plowing, burros, dogs, backyard tortilla factories, kitchen tables, meals, hard work—a way of life centered around the maize.
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