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In Mexico City, the Coronavirus Is Bringing Back Aztec-Era ‘Floating Gardens’

At a Colectivo Ahuejote workshop, farmers use a kassine tool to till the soil. COURTESY OF COLECTIVO AHUEJOTE

Business is booming for farmers who plant on man-made islands.

By Amanda Gokee
Atlas Obscura
June 25, 2020

Excerpt:

But since the COVID-19 pandemic hit Mexico, interrupting the industrial food supply in important ways, small farmers have increased production and rehabilitated abandoned chinampas to fill the demand for fresh, local food.

“We’re talking about something that’s 1,000 years old. We have to preserve this,” says Raúl Mondragón on a Zoom call from his home in Mexico City. Mondragón has been recuperating chinampas since 2016, when he founded Colectivo Ahuejote. Now the virus is revealing the strength of this model in the midst of a crisis.

The revival of chinampa farming is due, in part, to pandemic-related problems at Mexico City’s main market, La Central de Abastos, the largest of its kind in Latin America. Some warehouses have closed, truck traffic has been limited, and people have been getting sick with the virus. The supply chain of producers from around the country has also had to contend with road closures that limited deliveries to the capital and raised prices.

Read the complete article here.