terrace farming
Staircase crop cultivation
Terrace farming is an agricultural technique that carves flat platforms into hillsides, creating a staircase of level planting surfaces.
The terraces prevent soil erosion and retain water on steep slopes that would otherwise be unfarmable.
Rice paddies in Southeast Asia are the iconic example, though the practice appears worldwide from the Andes to the Philippines.
Ancient terrace farming systems still feed communities today.
- rice paddiesFlooded fields for grain
- rice terracesTiered irrigated agricultural hillsides
- soil conservationProtecting earth's fertile layer
- water retentionBody storing excess fluid
- water managementControlling aquatic resource distribution
flood control · irrigation systems · Andes Mountains · ancient civilizations · erosion control · crop rotation · watershed protection · Himalayas · terraces · steep slopes · agroforestry · carbon sequestration · Incas · slopes · intercropping · food security · sustainable agriculture · climate resilience
- Caucasus cultureadat, blood feud, clan loyalty, elder councils, guest rights
- Inca cultureMachu Picchu, Cusco, quipu, sun worship, chicha
- ancient AmericasMachu Picchu, Chichen Itza, Teotihuacan, Tenochtitlan, Tikal
- ancient farmingcrops, fields, cultivation, sowing, Fertile Crescent
- Andean agriculturequinoa, potatoes, potato, terraces, llamas
- Andean Culturellama, alpaca, quinoa, Quechua, panpipes
terrace farmingslash-and-burn agriculture
Farming by burning clearings
wild harvesting · foraging · gathering · shifting cultivation · direct seeding