By Mariana Martínez Barba and Julián Trejo Bax

The Associated Press

Cassandra Garduño squinted in the sunlight, her pink boots smudged by dirt as she gazed out over her familys chinampa — one of the islands first built up by the Aztecs with fertile mud from the bottom of a lake that, later drained, would one day become Mexico City.

Food from these islands has fed people for hundreds of years, but the chinampas are under threat from urbanization. The produce grown here doesnt fetch much money, and many families are abandoning the ancient practice to rent out or sell their land for more lucrative uses such as soccer fields.

People dont want to farm anymore, said Garduño. They dont see it as a necessity, they dont want to produce, and people dont want to buy the products.

Small ancestral floating gardens are visible next to new soccer fields on the Xochimilco Lake. (Felix Marquez / The Associated Press)

Some of those remaining, like Garduño, are banding together to preserve and promote the traditional use of the chinampas.

None of this can exist without human hands, the hands of those who worked here and created the chinampa a thousand years ago, she said on a recent morning as the smell of celery growing nearby filled the air.

The gardens crisscrossed by canals in the capitals southern Xochimilco borough are built up from layers of dredged soil, held together by tall, thin ahuejotes — a kind of willow tree — planted around their perimeter. Xochimilco has more than 2,500 acres of protected land owned by generations of local chinamperos, as those who farm the islands are known.

Garduños earliest memories of her familys chinampa came from peering through her grandparents window at the plot of land and watching canoes weave in and out of the canals. Even then, she saw how the chinampas were deteriorating under pressure from urbanization and as some farmers began to drop the practice.

Cassandra Garduno works in her floating garden in the Xochimilco borough of Mexico City. (Felix Marquez / The Associated Press)

Garduno plants flowers in her floating garden. (Felix Marquez / The Associated Press)

Garduno gathers Mexican marigold blooms, cempasuchil, which thrive in her floating garden. (Felix Marquez / The Associated Press)

The vivid orange of Mexican marigold flowers, cempasuchil, are seen from the air. (Felix Marquez / The Associated Press)

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Cassandra Garduno works in her floating garden in the Xochimilco borough of Mexico City. (Felix Marquez / The Associated Press)

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When her grandfather died in 2010 and her uncles didnt want to carry on, Garduño took it upon herself to learn and conserve generations of farming. Her neighbors and relatives were skeptical at first, but she bought land for her own chinampa from a friends uncle in 2020 and now grows an assortment of produce, including sunflowers, eggplant, and the Mexican marigold cempasuchil.

Now the 32-year-old Garduño is one of the growing collective called Chinampa Refuge, started by the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and she and other famers encourage chinamperos to preserve their land. They follow ancient growing techniques but are trying new commercial approaches to compete with cheaper produce grown on massive farms elsewhere in Mexico. That includes a special tag — Etiqueta Chinampera — that tells buyers the produce came from a chinampa, and may tout things like water quality or the chinampas status as a biodiversity refuge.

Change comes with educating the new generations, said Garduño. Talking about the origins and efforts to conserve and why its important to do it.

Cassandra Garduño, 32, is part of a growing collective urging other farmers to preserve land and explaining the benefits of doing so. (Felix Marquez / The Associated Press)

Luis Zambrano, an ecologist from the National Autonomous University of Mexico who has worked in Xochimilco for decades, said the fields are largely self-sustaining. Nourished by the lake, they can produce three to five crops of vegetables a year without the need of chemicals or irrigation, he said.

Moreover, the ecosystem of Xochimilco benefits the sprawling city. Many different species of birds and fish thrive there, and the extensive canals help reduce the citys overall temperature, he said.

Amateur soccer players and families travel in a traditional canoe in the Xochimilco borough of Mexico City. (Felix Marquez / The Associated Press)

Amateur soccer players from the Chivas team play on a field in the Xochimilco borough. (Felix Marquez / The Associated Press)

A man on a traditional canoe launches a soccer ball across the lake in the Xochimilco borough. (Felix Marquez / The Associated Press)

Amateur soccer players from the Tumbados team travel in a traditional canoe in the Xochimilco borough of Mexico City. (Felix Marquez / The Associated Press)

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Amateur soccer players and families travel in a traditional canoe in the Xochimilco borough of Mexico City. (Felix Marquez / The Associated Press)

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But now, on weekends, its common to see more soccer players boating to islands in their jerseys and cleats than farmers tending their crops. The soccer fields stretch for miles along the canals after what Zambrano called a massive increase over the past two to three years.

In Xochimilco, many people are reluctant to talk about transforming their chinampas to soccer fields. One landowner who declined to be identified for fear of legal or community backlash said keeping the chinampas productive required more work and financial investment and yielded less revenue. Instead, she has established multiple businesses on her land — a soccer field for weekend games, a food stand and kayaking tours for foreign visitors.

If you do well (farming) you could earn $5,000 to $10,000 (100,000 to 200,000 pesos) a year, Garduño said. In the tourist area you could have that within a couple of weekends.

New soccer fields have replaced ancestral floating gardens that once grew in the borough. The converted fields, with heavy chemical use, pollute the ecosystem, critics say. (Felix Marquez / The Associated Press)

But converting the agricultural fields carries ecological impact. While traditional farming methods avoid insecticides and fertilizers, the soccer fields are another story.

It doesnt look that detrimental because theres no construction, said Zambrano. But its just as damaging because the amount of chemicals that are used, the amount of pollution that is generated is very, very large.

The chinampas are among the significant features that led Mexico Citys historic center and Xochimilco to be recognized as a world heritage site by UNESCO. But any protective measures are up to federal, state and local authorities. Carlos Vasquez, director of the Natural Protected Areas under Mexico Citys Environmental Department, said they are working on proposals to address the soccer fields.

Manuel Serralde works in a floating garden in the Xochimilco borough of Mexico City. (Felix Marquez / The Associated Press)

Miguel Serralde works in Cassandra Gardunos floating garden in the Xochimilco borough of Mexico City. (Felix Marquez / The Associated Press)

Miguel Serralde and Cassandra Garduno plant in her floating garden in the Xochimilco borough of Mexico City. (Felix Marquez / The Associated Press)

Cassandra Garduno walks in her floating garden in the Xochimilco borough of Mexico City. (Felix Marquez / The Associated Press)

Amateur soccer players travel in a traditional canoe in the Xochimilco borough of Mexico City. (Felix Marquez / The Associated Press)

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Manuel Serralde works in a floating garden in the Xochimilco borough of Mexico City. (Felix Marquez / The Associated Press)

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Many are counter to the conservation of the ecosystems, he said. Were looking to regulate these activities.

After a long days work out in the sun, Garduño and some neighboring farmers congregate under Garduños makeshift hut for a feast of chicken and tortillas. They catch up on their tasks and outline whats left to do.

Juan Ávalos, 63, and his brother Salvador Gonzalez Ávalos, 55, have been working on chinampas all their lives. Their family has several plots in Xochimilcos San Gregorio neighborhood. A year ago, after some convincing by Garduño, the brothers joined Chinampa Refuge to adopt a more holistic approach to their farming.

Salvador said the approach is a continuous reminder of his familys legacy in maintaining the ancient practices — something they want to pass on to their grandchildren.

Thats something we need to work on as grandparents, he said. That they integrate themselves with a taste for this earth.