What is a Milpa?

Simply put, a milpa is a plot of land where Maya Forest Gardeners manage a large variety of plants and guide it through multiple stages of growth and productivity. This cyclical process, the milpa cycle, begins when forest is cleared for the planting of many crops and continues as it is managed through successive stages  and grows back into closed canopy forest.

San Andres, Peten, Guatemala; farmer next to mango tree in polycultivated field

Our research shows that Maya forest gardeners know more than 500 edible indigenous plants and manage and cultivate more than 430 different plants, including all the dominant species  of the Maya forest.

Maya forest gardens are a highly diverse, polyculture  style of farming, a sustainable form of agroforestry, and one of the most diverse domestic farming systems in the world.