Desert renaissance: how indigenous communities are reviving ancient farming techniques to combat climate change

When Roxanne Swentzell returned to her Santa Clara Pueblo community in New Mexico in 1985, she faced a challenge familiar to many young parents: how to feed her family on a tight budget. But the 23-year-old sculptor had something many don’t—access to thousands of years of agricultural wisdom. Working with what she describes as “nothing but a driveway really” in the high desert, Swentzell transformed a barren patch of land into a thriving farm using her ancestors’ dry-farming techniques.

Her success story reflects a broader movement gaining momentum across America’s Southwest. Indigenous communities, including the Hopi and Navajo tribes in Arizona and various Pueblos in New Mexico, are revitalizing traditional farming methods that have sustained life in arid regions for millennia. Organizations like the Traditional Native American Farmers Association (TNAFA) and the Hopi Tutskwa Permaculture initiative are leading this agricultural renaissance, teaching time-tested techniques for growing corn, squash, beans, and other crops in areas where “sunshine is as abundant as rain is scarce.”

These ancient methods—ranging from waffle gardens that capture precious rainfall to sophisticated terracing systems—offer more than cultural preservation. As climate change intensifies drought conditions worldwide, these water-efficient farming techniques present practical solutions for food security in increasingly arid regions. The revival demonstrates how Indigenous knowledge, refined over centuries, can address modern environmental challenges while strengthening food sovereignty in Native communities.