Ak-Chin Agriculture

The small brown man seated at the table is surrounded by huge green and yellow gourds. His ancient eyes stare into mine and he smiles. The smile looks handsome on a face worn and weathered by the sun. This O’odham grandfather is sitting at a fair booth, explaining how his people have farmed in the deserts of southern Arizona for thousands of years. It is a style of agriculture based upon harvesting rainwater known as Ak-Chin. The desert farmer is very proud of his big beautiful green and yellow gourds.

Corn was introduced to the region from Mexico in 2000 BC when the local inhabitants interrupted their hunting and gathering cycles for long enough to tend small gardens. Agriculture was only a supplement and not a mainstay until 750 BC when they bred an eight rowed, sixty-day popcorn and another popular strain known as chapalote. Ethnobotanist Gary Paul Nabhan has collected ears of this same sixty-day popcorn still under cultivation in northern Mexico today. The agricultural lifestyle did not really explode in southern Arizona until the arrival of a culture we call the Hohokam.