Agriculture in the prehistoric Southwest
After the Hohokam disappeared, Spanish explorers of the 16th century noted the use of canal irrigation in only two areas of the Southwest: eastern Sonora, primarily practiced by the Opata and Lower Pima, and among the Pueblos of northern New Mexico. Irrigation by the Opata and Pueblos had different objectives. In Sonora, with a long growing season, two crops of maize a year were grown in river valleys. The spring crop during the dry season was dependent upon irrigation; the summer and fall crop during the rainy season utilized irrigation to supplement rainfall. The necessity of irrigation probably required a high level of social organization. In New Mexico, with only one crop of maize per year possible, irrigation was supplemental and the lesser dependence on irrigation implies less social organization than in Sonora.
San Juan de Yapacaní
At the beginning of colonization, they cultivated upland rice, maize, cassava, yams and legumes. In its early years, the colony was unable to ship most of the rice it produced, due to the unimproved road being impassable when wet. After reaching the main road to Montero, five to six more hours of travel were necessary to arrive at markets. Improvements to the road to the colony and the Montero-Yapacaní highway created more opportunities for the colonists. Also, they established poultry farms, mainly with chickens, which in the mid-70’s consisted of 30% of chicken farming in Bolivia. Electrification reached San Juan in 1979 and the colonists participate in various marketing cooperatives.