STNMTZ_20210910_0088.TIF | George Steinmetz

Mexico City, Mexico
A collective farm fills the bottom of Xico Crater, an agricultural reserve on the south edge of greater Mexico City. Most of the sprawl in the Mexican capital has been from illegal settlements on former farmland and filling in the lakes that once surrounded the Aztec capital. But the 40 hectares inside Xico are an agriculture preserve, managed collectively by 120 owners who guard their precious corn and bean fields from development. Planting, weeding, and harvesting here are still done by hand, without any chemical fertilizer or pesticides, resulting in corn yields similar to industrial-scale farms in the U.S.

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Mexico City, Mexico<br />
A collective farm fills the bottom of Xico Crater, an agricultural reserve on the south edge of greater Mexico City. Most of the sprawl in the Mexican capital has been from illegal settlements on former farmland and filling in the lakes that once surrounded the Aztec capital. But the 40 hectares inside Xico are an agriculture preserve, managed collectively by 120 owners who guard their precious corn and bean fields from development. Planting, weeding, and harvesting here are still done by hand, without any chemical fertilizer or pesticides, resulting in corn yields similar to industrial-scale farms in the U.S.