Today’s Mexican food is a byproduct of an ancient diet and farming technique known as milpa. “It’s a traditional Mesoamerican ...

Most gardeners can plant and harvest corn twice a year, and those with adequate irrigation might even manage three crops. The current corn harvest ... patch—dedicated to growing corn, known as a milpa ...

The Maya, who farmed without draft animals or plows, used stone tools and fire to follow what Ford calls the “milpa cycle.” It is an ancient land use system by which a closed canopy forest is ...