Agricultural history of Peru

The Inca were a mountain-based culture that expanded when the climate became wetter, often sending conquered peoples down from the mountains into fallow but farmable lowlands.

In contrast, the Moche were a lowland culture that died out after a strong El Niño, which caused abnormally high rainfall and floods followed by a long drought.

[1] A study reported that crops of squash, peanuts, and cotton were domesticated in Peru around 10,000, 8,500, and 6,000 years ago, respectively.

On land, it results in a cold mist that covers coastal Peru to the extent that desert plants have adapted to obtain water from the air instead of from (infrequent) rainfall.

This means all the water must be brought from the Atlantic side of the Andean mountain ranges that split Peru.

Twenty-first century Peru grows agricultural commodities such as asparagus, potatoes, maize, rice, quinoa and coffee.

Peruvian maize is not exportable due to large producer subsidies in Europe and the United States.

[8] Incans irrigated their fields with a system of reservoirs and cisterns to collect water, which was then distributed by canals and ditches.

Peru lost its guano reserves to Chile (backed by the British Empire) in the War of the Pacific.

The Germans invented the Haber process shortly after the outbreak of World War I, after which guano became almost worthless.

Peru shares a similar climate with wine-producing country Chile, which is favorable for producing wine.

[17] Most vineyards are located on the central coast, around Pisco and Ica, where most of Peru's winemaking and distillation takes place.