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La Milpa Moderna

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Yesterday, Mrs. Silvia Teran visited us to give a conference about the Milpa Maya: the biocultural heritage of Mexico. "Milpa" is the traditional form of agriculture in Yucatan and other parts of mesoamerica. It is a long process of crop rotation that involves cutting and burning a part of the land in order to generate soil to plant crops. Starting with corn, beans, squash, tomatoes, jicama, chiles, etc and through the years moving to different fruits and finally fruit trees until, after 15-20 years, that patch of land is returned to forest that is used for gathering medicinal plants, building materials and hunting animals. Silvia told us some of the incredible characteristics of the milpa, here we will share some of them with you! 

One of the remarkable characteristics of the milpa in mesoamerica is that it was the dominant form of agriculture from 1700BC until 1970
The milperos (farmers) know how to work with the different kinds of soil. The terrain of the milpa is rough and interspersed with rocks and trees. They can't plant the same variety of corn everywhere. There are more than 80 varieties of corn in Mexico that are adapted to certain areas. 


The milpa is a form of conservational agroforestry. The milperos "borrow" land for a time and then let it rest and become forest once more. 

The process of rosa, tumba, quema (separation of an area, felling of vegetation, and burning to ash) is necessary especially for a place such as Yucatan where there is very little soil and what can be found is nutrient poor. In order to plant crops that will produce a harvest, the milperos need to create soil by making the nutrients of the surrounding plant life available. 

Today, milpas have a much shorter life-span, as milperos are cutting and burning areas that have only been forested for 6-8 years. These young trees don't have many nutrients to give, and so the farmers are adding the use of chemical fertilizer to help bring the harvest back to what it used to be. 

Silvia Teran left us with a message of hope. The world is changing and it would be nearly impossible for us to go back to the traditional system of milpa, but we can find a new way, a modern milpa that is sustainable in today's world.

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