when we got home everyone would sit together in a circle, tear the beans off the plants and throw them into the large buckets in the center. as the buckets began to get full my aunts would heat up the grill and start cooking them. when my aunts announced that they were cooked and ready to eat, we would run to receive our well-earned bowl of beans. we’d load them up with salt and snack on them till we were sick!

some years we didn’t pick the beans ourselves and had to search for farmers in the nearest pueblo who were selling them. i never questioned why some years we would pick them ourselves and other years we had to purchase them until i overheard a conversation between my aunts and uncles. i learned that some years my uncles had a successful harvest because the plants received plenty of rain, but other years there wasn’t enough rain for the plants. when my uncles were unable to produce a successful harvest, we had to search for another farmer who did have a successful harvest. i never questioned the severity of the issue because as long as i was able to get my hands on my garbanzo beans, i was a happy camper. 

however, the issue my uncles occasionally face is a sign of what they could face on a regular basis if climate change isn’t brought to a halt. additionally, my uncles’ situation isn’t unique to the region of jalisco, but more of an example of what’s happening all over the world. as global temperatures have continued to increase, droughts have become more frequent and it’s left farmers in a tough situation. not only are they unable to financially support their families because they aren’t able to sell their crops, but they’re also unable to fulfill the orders placed by their sellers, impacting the supply chain. 

as climate change has become a growing concern, many scientists have dedicated their research to discovering innovative solutions that will help secure our plant production. recent research from the technical university of munich (tum) has revealed that material from gene banks could be used to improve the climate resilience of maize plants. 

chris-carolin schön, professor of plant breeding at the tum, led the research team and has come up with a solution to utilize the genetic potential of old varieties. their research suggests that as a result of over-breeding, characteristics that could help plants be more resilient and adaptable may have been lost. with further research and development, harnessing the genetic potential from old varieties could play a vital role in securing plant production for generations to come.

the distribution to plant production is currently felt only lightly by the larger population, especially those that live in developed countries. when a supplier is unable to produce their crops for the season, there are usually other suppliers that can be found in substitution. however, as more farmers across the globe continue to be impacted by droughts as a result of climate change, there will be a decrease in global production.

and there may come a day when i won’t be able to find garbanzo beans anywhere near my dad’s hometown.

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around 60 million years ago, a large asteroid called chicxulub made impact with the earth along the coast of the yucatán peninsula of present-day mexico. the asteroid’s impact resulted in dissemination of geologically young, thin soil across the peninsula and formation of a massive underground system of freshwater cenotes, which are natural sinkholes exposing groundwater. over a thousand years ago, the maya built their main ceremonial city, chichén itzá, along the edge of chicxulub’s crater. the soil was thin, but freshwater was plentiful. to sustain chichén itzá’s large population, the maya cultivated crops through an agricultural method known as milpa.

milpa is a type of sustainable farming historically practiced by the maya in the yucatán and other parts of mesoamerica. the polyculture milpas are planted with numerous crops, such as beans, corn, peppers, and gourds, for local community consumption rather than supporting a single crop for economic value like modern monoculture commercial farms. milpa agriculture requires no agrochemicals, thus keeping groundwater clean. the ancient maya empire survived on milpa farming. some 60% of the population on the yucatán peninsula today are of maya descent, and numerous modern mayan communities practice milpa.

adolfo rodriguez, a professor at the autonomous university of chapingo, is a milpa farmer in the maya community of maxcanú. dressed in a traditional straw hat and white, long-sleeved guayabera, rodriguez proudly recounted the history of his farm. back in the 1800s, the farm was a large plantation growing henequen, an agave plant used to make twine and ropes for ships and other fiber-based products. most of the global supply of henequen, also known as yucatán sisal, came from the yucatán peninsula. demand for henequen eventually decreased due to the rise of synthetic fiber, thus the plantation converted to milpa farming.  

rodriguez walked past bright magenta pitaya, or dragonfruit, growing on small cactus-like trees between rows of short, spiky agave plants. in typical milpa formation, there were rows of different crops interspersed within rows of other crops, with ramón trees sprinkled throughout the landscape. ramón trees, whose use dates back to the beginning of the maya empire, are well adapted to the climate and distributed throughout the yucatán. rodriguez explained the strong link between the maya religion and milpa farming, which “has been the base of the culture of the maya, of the religion of the maya, of the (preservation) of the maya. (to work) in the forest, you need to ask for permission (of) the owners of the forest. you need to ask to the gods for the rain, and when the people harvest, they need to say thank you with the special rituals to the gods.”

modern maya face challenges to their milpa system. irregular weather patterns due to accelerated climate change have made predicting rainfall prior to the planting season increasingly difficult. seasonal changes to rain cycles affect crop choices and planting schedules. “the maya have different strategies to these changes,” rodriguez said. “they have different species, different seeds, for the different seasons.” however, this adapted methodology might not succeed in modern polyculture milpas. farmers determine when to plant one variety of corn based on the date of the first summer rain, and then plant other crops accordingly. delays in the initial planting due to late seasonal rains result in changes to the rest of the crops for that season.

more problematic for 21st century maya is generational loss of knowledge of milpa farming. “now the youngest people are not working in the milpa, (and) there are generational breaks in which the parents don’t want to know about the milpa,” rodriguez said. “the (grandchildren) want to know it but the parents don’t know how to manage the land, so all of this knowledge is (being lost) and the people nowadays cannot manage the land (the) way that the old people (did).” a new program teaches younger maya about milpa farming techniques and continues to pass down generational knowledge.

farmers are taking actions to make milpa farming more sustainable for the future. in traditional milpa farming, an area of forest is cleared, planted for two years, then allowed to lie fallow for eight years as secondary-growth vegetation before being replanted. by repeating this process continuously, land can be used for crops almost indefinitely. some maya farmers no longer clear new land and let their land recover for 10 to 15 years instead of eight to increase the fertility of the land for the next crop cycles. “i’m working with another 15 farmers and i am trying to figure out better ways to cultivate my crops, but (it is) very difficult because we are many farmers and not all of us want to conserve this jungle,” said don francisco puuc, a farmer and leader in his maya community of yaxunah. his goal is to adopt more organic methods and cut as little of the forest as he can.

modern milpa farmers plant domesticated varieties of native jungle species. the germplasm bank is a seed bank in the mexican state of mérida that stores massive collections of seeds and other viable plant samples, including historical collections of seeds of crops the maya have planted for generations. “if you can’t preserve the whole areas with the forest, you can preserve the seeds,” said dr. maria pulido-salas, co-director of the germplasm bank at the yucatecan scientific investigation center. the seed bank created a partnership between local farmers and the scientific team to give seeds of certain species to local farmers for planting to keep those species resilient and adapted to current climatic conditions in the yucatán. if seeds cannot be saved from harvests due to drought or other conditions, then the seed bank stock can be used for crop restoration.

milpa farming sustained the ancient maya for centuries. as modern maya adapt their ancestral farming practices to counter accelerating effects of climate change, they seek not only to preserve their traditional farms and crops, but to maintain their way of life and culture for generations to come.

negotiate with the government of mexico. reach an accommodation regarding the digging of an underground access tunnel from nogales, arizona to the mar de cortés. that distance is approximately 125 miles. the mar de cortés is the body of water that lies between the baja peninsula and the mainland of mexico.

in addition, build a grand-scale seawater desalination plant near nogales, arizona. the plant would be solar powered with conventional power back-up to allow the plant to be in continuous operation.

the us southwest has been water-starved throughout history. hundreds of thousands of square miles of desert and marginal land in the region lie barren and unproductive due to a lack of water.

with seawater access and a seawater desal facility arizona could serve as a freshwater hub for the entire us southwest. pipelines, trucks and or trains could deliver the water to cities, farms and households in the region.