Chinampa, Permaculture Research Institute, Tyalgum NSW

A flooded chinampa ditch at the Permaculture Research Institute's (PRI) Tyalgum property in the 1990s. The Chinampa - a ditch and mound system where crops are grown on the mounds and fish in the flooded ditches - was developed from the ancient Aztec model in Mexico. The PRI chinampa system consisted of several ditches and inter-ditch mounds. The PRI's Tagari Farm trialled several innovative ideas including a bamboo cropping system and the Commonworks experiment for livelihood creation. The farm closed in the late 1990s (more at: www.pacific-edge.info).

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