Mexico City’s floating farms

In this July 13, 2017 photo, men remove mud from a shallow channel so that tourist boats will be able to move through the channel, in Xochimilco, Mexico City. Some of Mexico City’s most in-demand restaurants are increasingly incorporating produce grown at the famed aquatic gardens of Xochimilco (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)  (Marco Ugarte / AP)

In this July 13, 2017 photo, a farmer’s machete and hat sit on a floating farm known as a “chinampa” in Xochimilco, Mexico City. The World Heritage status and Xochimilco itself are threatened by the pollution and encroaching urbanization that plague the rest of the sprawling metropolis. (AP Photo / Marco Ugarte)  (Marco Ugarte / AP)

In this July 13, 2017 photo, chefs and restaurant employees walk through a vegetable garden on a floating farm known as a “chinampa” in Xochimilco, Mexico City. Xochimilco has also been a breadbasket for the Valley of Mexico since before the Aztec Empire, when farmers first created the “floating” islands bound to the shallow canal beds through layers of sediment and willow roots. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)  (Marco Ugarte / AP)

In this June 27, 2017 photo, birds skim the channels of Xochimilco in Mexico City. Xochimilco, on the far southern edge of Mexico City, is best-known as the “Mexican Venice” for its canals and brightly colored boats is designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)  (Marco Ugarte / AP)

In this July 13, 2017 photo, a farmer takes advantage of a motorized boat to move faster along the channels of Xochimilco to his floating farm known as a “chinampa” in Mexico City. Xochimilco, on the far southern edge of Mexico City, has been a breadbasket for the Valley of Mexico since before the Aztec Empire, when farmers first created the “floating” islands bound to the shallow canal beds through layers of sediment and willow roots. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)  (Marco Ugarte / AP)

In this July 13, 2017 photo, farmer Lucio Usobiaga, founding partner of Yolcan, points to a vegetable field as he talk to chefs and restaurant employees on a floating farm known as a “chinampa” in Xochimilco, Mexico City. Yolcan is a business that specializes in placing traditionally farmed Xochimilco produce in Mexico City’s most acclaimed restaurants. (AP Photo / Marco Ugarte)  (Marco Ugarte / AP)

In this July 13, 2017 photo, a farmer paddles his canoe to his floating farm known as a “chinampa,” in Xochimilco, Mexico City. Xochimilco is designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)  (Marco Ugarte / AP)

In this July 13, 2017, a farmer moves his harvest of squash flowers through the channels of Xochimilco in Mexico City. Xochimilco is designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. (AP Photo / Marco Ugarte)  (Marco Ugarte / AP)

In this July 13, 2017 photo, chef Eduardo Garcia, founder of Maximo Bistrot and former migrant worker in the US, cuts mushrooms at his restaurant in Mexico City. People sometimes think (farm-to-table) is a trend,” said Garcia. “It’s not a trend. It’s something that we humans have always done and we need to keep doing it, we need to return to it.”(AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)  (Marco Ugarte / AP)

In this July 13, 2017 photo, a heron perches on a boat tied to a floating farm known as a “chinampa” in Xochimilco, Mexico City. Xochimilco, on the far southern edge of Mexico City, is best-known as the “Mexican Venice” for its canals and brightly colored boats where locals and tourists can while away a weekend day listening to mariachi music and sipping cold beers. (AP Photo / Marco Ugarte)  (Marco Ugarte / AP)

In this July 13, 2017 photo, a variety of lettuce grows on a floating farm known as a “chinampa” in Xochimilco, Mexico City. A growing number of the capital’s most in-demand restaurants are incorporating produce grown at the gardens, using ancient cultivation techniques pioneered hundreds of years ago in the pre-Columbian era. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)  (Marco Ugarte / AP)

In this July 13, 2017 photo, Ichiro Kitazawa, a chef at the Japanese restaurant Rocoi, inspects herbs on a floating garden known as a “chinampa” in Xochimilco in Mexico City. Chinampa produce generally sells for 15 to 100 percent more than comparable goods at the enormous Central de Abasto, the go-to wholesale market for nearly all of Mexico City’s chefs that is so monolithic its competition sets prices across the country. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)  (Marco Ugarte / AP)

This July 14, 2017 photo shows a plate garnished with chinampa-grown roasted yellow carrots with asparagus puree, prepared by chef Eduardo Garcia, founder of Maximo Bistrot and a former U.S. migrant worker, at his restaurant in Mexico City. Diners reserve weeks in advance for a coveted table at Maximo Bistrot, one of three restaurants Garcia runs. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)  (Marco Ugarte / AP)

In this July 13, 2017 photo, lettuce grows on a floating farm known as a “chinampa” in Xochimilco, Mexico City. Chinampa produce generally sells for 15 to 100 percent more than comparable goods at the enormous Central de Abasto, the go-to wholesale market for nearly all of Mexico City’s chefs that is so monolithic its competition sets prices across the country. (AP Photo / Marco Ugarte)  (Marco Ugarte / AP)

In this July 13, 2017 photo, a kitchen staff worker cooks onions and beans with “epazote” herbs at the Maximo Bistrot restaurant in Mexico City. Diners reserve weeks in advance for a coveted table at Maximo Bistrot, one of three restaurants run by Chef Eduardo Garcia, and that uses produce grown in Xochimilco’s floating gardens. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)  (Marco Ugarte / AP)

In this July 13, 2017 photo, chef Eduardo Garcia, founder of Maximo Bistrot and former migrant worker in the U.S., cuts mushrooms at his restaurant in Mexico City. Diners reserve weeks in advance for a coveted table at Maximo Bistrot, one of three restaurants Garcia runs. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)  (Marco Ugarte / AP)