Milpa is a crop-growing system used throughout Mesoamerica (the region of central-southeastern Mexico and northern Central America where the most important pre-Hispanic civilizations flourished). The word milpa is a term used in Mexico that means "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 suitable to the local conditions.
Agronomists point out that the system was designed to create relatively large yields of food crops without the use of artificial pesticides or fertilizers, and 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 developed.
In San Felipe del Agua—the Oaxaca community that is the focal point for the milpa project — milpa is more than the fields and crops, it is a network of families, commerce and practices much of which is 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.
Maize—referred to as corn in most English-speaking countries—was first cultivated in the central plateau of Mexico. The origins of maize are uncertain, but there is evidence that it was cultivated as early as 6,000 years ago. Today maize is grown throughout the world and is the most common cereal grain in the Americas. There are no wild forms of maize, the plant will not grow and reproduce in the absence of cultivation creating a common relationship between maize and humans.
The milpa system of agriculture was used in Mexico to develop maize cultivation and produce a diversity of maize types suited to different climate and soil conditions. The maintenance of maize diversity (more than 270 landraces of maize have been identified in Mesoamerica) is a major benefit of milpa agriculture. The Cruz Perez family of San Felipe del Agua plant their milpa every year primarily to sustain the strains of maize belonging to the family.
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