Sustainability and climate variability in low-input peasant maize systems in the central Mexican highlands

• We evaluate sustainability in three peasant management systems (PMS).
• PMS were: the diversified (CRS), the organic (OFS) and the conventional inputs (CCS).
• We use 16 multidimensional and short-term indicators in two contrasting climate years.
• Pest incidence was significantly influenced by management and yields by climate.
• CRS and OFS show higher capacity of adaptation to climate variability than CCS.

One of the most important challenges for agriculture is addressing high climatic variability by creating productive, resilient and adaptable systems that are highly efficient in terms of water and energy use and having the aims of neither degrading nor contaminating the environment. In Mexico, these characteristics are fulfilled by many seasonal peasant agricultural systems. Systems utilizing native seeds produce an important portion of white maize for human consumption in addition to safeguarding key agricultural genetic resources. This article evaluates the sustainability of such systems and describes the current challenges and opportunities in a representative peasant community in the watershed of Lago de Pátzcuaro in Mexico. Community farming and livestock management practices were analyzed, and ecological, economic and social indicators were measured over a two-year period. During the first year, low-input systems, which are based on the use of organic fertilizers and crop rotation, provided better results in terms of ecological indicators and equal results in terms of economic and social indicators than those achieved using a high chemical input system. In the second year, which featured early frosts and a winter drought, productivity declined in all systems; however, the most diversified systems (in terms of the maize varieties grown and the sowing of other crops) more successfully resisted these climatic adversities.