Corn, beans, squash.

This united crop trio was, and still is, so central to indigenous culture in the Americas that some believe they were sent from the gods to sustain human life.

Indigenous ingenuity across centuries led to the discovery of the symbiotic relationship between these three crops.

A system of interplanting them made it all the way from the Mayans in South and Central America to the Haudenosaunee, also known as the Iroquois in North America.

For the Haudenosaunee and many more, the three plants of this system were called the Three Sisters.

Intentionally planting crops together for their mutual benefit is called polyculture.

Today, studies can prove what these Indigenous communities already understood.

These three crops flourish even better together than on their own.

Despite this, 80% of our global agriculture is dominated by monoculture.

The process of planting one kind of crop every year.

Without crop diversity, the soil has no time to rest and restore its nutrients, which can impact our future capacity to grow food.

This could be a huge problem for our future meals.

Is it time to go back to the basics?

And what can this ancient technique teach us about the issues facing agriculture today?

Corn and squash were first domesticated about 10,000 years ago, and beans were domesticated soon after.

These three crops were cultivated by Indigenous communities in Mesoamerica, but were brought to South and North America through migration and trade in Central America and southern Mexico.

The Mayans grew these crops in milpas, an acre or more where corn, beans, and squash are grown together.

This method of co planting traveled in tandem with the spread of the crops themselves.

In North America, the Haudenosaunee needed versatile crops that could be grown in warmer seasons to be saved for use in the winter.

As the Haudenosaunee made these crops a part of their family life, stories about the Three Sisters were passed from mother to daughter, with instructions on how to grow them together.

Big sister corn can be pretty tough to grow.

She saps soil of nitrogen, making it tough to keep the soil fertile after a few crops.

Before planting, seeds are traditionally soaked to make the corn more nutritious.

Next, its middle sister Bean's turn.

Just a few inches away in the same mound, beans are planted next to the budding corn stalk.

Remember how corn uses nitrogen from the soil?

Well, beans provide nifty nitrogen fixing bacteria.

The corn loves the healthier soil, and the beans use the corn stalk as a structure to grow.

Traditionally, baby sister squash rounded out the process, crawling along the ground to cover the soil with its broad leaves, squash provides shade and acts as both a weed and pest deterrent.

Squash is filled with vitamins that complement the other sisters for a balanced meal.

Squash blossoms can also be eaten off the vine, steamed, boiled, fried, or made into a porridge.

You can see how deeply Indigenous communities loved these three sisters in their creation stories.

The Haudenosaunee credit Sky Woman for the gift of the Three Sisters.

Corn is personified in various Mayan legends, and many Mayans believed that humans were literally created from corn.

Regionally, Indigenous communities planted the Three Sisters together with a whole host of siblings.

Amaranth to attract pollinators, and sunflower seeds, melons and chilis to enhance the flavor of meals.

The resulting bounty sparked culinary creativity.

While hunting parties gathered fish, venison, and bear, the chefs at home pounded corn into flatbreads.

In Central America and Southern Mexico, Aztecs called their version tlaxcalli.

The Spanish later called them tortillas.

All throughout the Americas, the Three Sisters inspired dishes like succotash or Three Sisters stew.

Tamales and pozole originated in Central America.

Poyha is a venison cornbread meatloaf from the Cherokee people in North America.

There's cornbread and frybread from the Navajo and the Haudenosaunee, and many more combinations that are still being used today.

I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

Thousands of years later, the Three Sisters, especially corn, now dominate our planet's crop production.

But it took us a while to get here.

Corn, new types of beans, and squash were introduced to Europe during the Columbian Exchange.

But corn didn't become popular in Europe until the 16th century, later spreading to Asia, the Mediterranean and Australia by the 18th century.

In times of trade and treaties, indigenous communities, shared seeds, and agricultural knowledge developed over millennia.

But their agricultural methods were largely ignored by Europeans.

Many indigenous farmers, who descended from the very same people who cultivated the Three Sisters were lost due to land theft, starvation, and disease.

The Three Sisters were further pushed aside for industrialized farming between the 18th and 20th centuries.

In the United States.

From 1862 to 1934.

Laws like the Homestead Act were made to limit indigenous agricultural land use and traditions.

The law also gave white settlers ownership of plots of stolen Indigenous land in the U.S. As indigenous people were forcibly pushed out of their homes in the 19th century, buffalo, a crucial source of sustenance, were killed in the millions, and water systems were diverted to cash crops.

Traditional restorative farm methods developed over millennia were ignored for mass production and profit.

As more Indigenous elders were lost, oral traditions of how indigenous groups grew, cooked, and loved food were in danger of being erased.

We are lucky to have Indigenous chefs that are determined to keep their cuisines alive.

But first, let's look at the impact of the Three Sisters on our food industries.

To this day, sisters Bean and Squash are stars of their own, but big sister Corn is one of the most consumed foods on the planet.

From 2014 to 2024, global corn consumption increased by almost 25%.

Corn crops make up a lion's share of staple crop production alongside wheat, rice, and soybeans.

The United States is the top consumer and producer of corn, and it makes up 95% of our feed grain for animals.

Corn can become ethanol, syrup, and is even used in beer.

It's no wonder Mayans believed we were made from corn.

Don't panic, but we have to talk about how food supply is impacted by our planet's changing climate.

Scientists are only just beginning to understand the environmental impacts of monoculture.

While planting the same crops on the same land can be profitable, it can lead to poor soil health.

Without a change in how our food is produced, the impact of climate on agriculture and food supply could be disastrous for us in the future.

But don't lose hope.

One proposed solution, polyculture, is rooted in what Indigenous people knew culturally and spiritually as the Three Sisters.

Interplanting crops can lead to greater production.

And it doesn't stop with corn, beans, and squash.

Dill and basil, for example, provide protection for tomatoes from horn worms without competing for soil nutrients.

Indigenous communities continue to maintain these traditions on a smaller scale.

You can still find these blended farms today, called milpas, in some of the same places they were originally grown.

Modern day chefs like Chef Lois Ellen, Frank and Chef Walter Whitewater in New Mexico include the Three Sisters in their cuisines.

Taking it a step further to include five more traditional plants developed in the Americas.

Chilies, tomatoes, potatoes, vanilla, and cacao.

This, in addition to the Three Sisters, make the magic eight.

There are other tactics to address our changing climate, and one is to keep a wide variety of seeds to adapt to shifts in temperature, soil nutrients, and rainfall.

Seed biodiversity is actively practiced by Indigenous farmers today.

You can find corn, beans, and squash in all shapes, and sizes, and colors, including heirloom varieties stemming from Indigenous communities themselves.

These seeds were passed down through the generations, and many are stored in seed banks to ensure our food future.

Want to support the Indigenous communities directly?

You can start with buying your own heirloom seeds from places like Native Seeds, or showing your support for the Indigenous Seed Keeper Network.