Two brothers are reviving Mexico's ancient floating farms — and the culinary world noticed

Fifteen miles south of Mexico City's center, brothers Lucio and Pablo Usobiaga are bringing the chinampas — hand-built farm islands that once fed the Aztec capital — back to life. Their project, Arca Tierra, has just won the 2026 Champions of Change Award from Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants. The canals of Xochimilco, a UNESCO World Heritage site, have seen around 70% of the chinampas fall out of use; Arca Tierra pays local chinampero farmers fair prices, supplies top restaurants like Rosetta and Quintonil, runs agritourism tours, and trains young people to become chinamperos — including Mujer Medicina, a project teaching 25 women to grow medicinal plants. ‘It's important to extend that recognition to everyone in the food ecosystem,’ said Lucio.