Could Aztec Innovative ‘Chinampas’ – ‘Floating Islands’ Help Modern Farmers?

Conny Waters - AncientPages.com - Can the old Aztec technique in the form of innovative  'chinampas' ('artificial island') contribute to better urban farming today?

Researchers led by Roland Ebel from the Sustainable Food Systems Program at Montana State University examined the use of “chinampas”, which was developed during the time of the Aztecs in the region of Lake Xochimilco, south of Mexico City.

Chinampas. Image credit: Ez Gro Garden

Their goal is to determine the extent to which an ancient Aztec agricultural technique could benefit 21st century horticultural needs.

A chinampa is a raised field on a small artificial island on a freshwater lake (usually surrounded by canals and ditches), where vegetables can be produced year-round. The irrigation needs of chinampas is low and the productivity extremely high. Chinampas provide fresh produce for a megacity such as Mexico City and are conceivable around many of today’s exploding urban areas.

The chinampa system, commonly called floating gardens, is efficient and popular solution still practiced in certain suburban areas in Xochimilco, in the southern valley of Mexico City. These raised fields are constructed by digging the canals and mounding the displaced earth onto platforms. Similar historic raised field systems can be found in South America, Asia, Oceania, and parts of Africa.

In a chinampa, the canal water rises through capillary action to the plant roots, which reduces irrigation demand. Additionally, a considerable portion of the soil fertility is generated on the canal floors. Complex rotations allow up to seven harvests in a year.

Chinampas also provide ecosystem services, particularly greenhouse gas sequestration and biodiversity. In addition, the recreational benefits are tremendous: today, chinampas generate even more money from tourism than by horticultural production.

An example of hydroponic principles that were being used successfully is that of the Aztecs of Central America.  A nomadic tribe, they were driven onto the marshy shore of Lake Tenochtitlan,   located in the great central valley of what is now Mexico. source

Ebel discovered the chinampa to be one of the most intensive and prolific production systems ever developed, and it is highly sustainable. It can be kept in almost continuous cultivation, and the microclimate is favorable for many horticultural crops, including ornamentals, which play an increasingly important role in Xochimilco. Even small animals can be raised on chinampas.

During the Aztec period (1325-1521), the development of chinampas is linked to high regional population density and the growth of sizable local urban communities. The raised field agriculture provided pre-Columbian farmers with better drainage, soil aeration, moisture retention during the dry season, and higher and longer-term soil fertility than in conventional outdoor production.

“Today, many cities face very similar challenges as Mexico City did 700 years ag— a rapidly growing population, and less and less arable land available for food production," said Ebel.

Credit: Ez Gro Garden

"Highly intensive production systems with low resource demand are, therefore, a strategic goal of urban agriculture developers. Thus, while most strategists emphasize high-tech solutions such as complex vertical farms, I think it is worthwhile to learn from the achievements of our ancestors.”

Nevertheless, despite versatile efforts to revitalize and reinterpret chinampas, the raised-field production system today is mostly limited to small-scale research and development projects.

“A restored use of chinampas would allow intensive production of fresh vegetables close to Mexico City, avoiding transport needs and avoiding negative consequences on produce quality and greenhouse gas emissions,” Ebel said.

Furthermore, chinampas could provide a series of desirable ecosystem services, including water filtration, regulation of water levels, microclimate regulation, increased biodiversity, and carbon capture and storage.

“Wherever you have freshwater lakes near a big city, chinampa-like systems are conceivable—and this applies for many parts of the world.”

ASHS

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Written by Conny Waters - AncientPages.com Staff Writer