Like other farmers in Mexico, farmers in the Sierra de Santa Marta have traditionally grown
many varieties of maize, distinguished primarily by the color and form of the grain, the
thickness of the cob, and by consumption preferences in the communities where the farmers
live (Herrera 1996). Over the years since they began cultivating their own fields, survey
farmers have grown 34 named varieties. The full list of maize varieties (modern and
traditional) grown by farmers in the survey zone from the year they began cultivating their
own fields, as well as the racial classification of the variety