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.
Pueblo of Isleta
Anthropologists have divided Pueblo groups into two distinct groups based on cultural practices: the Western Pueblo Groups and the Eastern Pueblo Groups. Isleta is considered an Eastern Pueblo according to this classification, derived largely on their subsistence farming techniques. Traditionally, Eastern pueblos rely more heavily on irrigation techniques, in contrast to tdry farming practices that were more common in the Western Pueblos. Both groups cultivate mostly maize (corn), but squash and beans have also been staple Pueblo foods all around the region.