Huerta

Irrigated area, or a field within an irrigated area

This article is about agriculture. For other uses, see Huerta (disambiguation) and Horta.

A huerta (Spanish: [ˈweɾta] ) or horta (Catalan: [ˈɔɾta] , Portuguese: [ˈɔɾtɐ] ), from Latin hortus, "garden", is an irrigated area, or a field within such an area, common in Spain and Portugal, where a variety of vegetables and fruit trees are cultivated for family consumption and sale. Typically, individual huertas belong to different people; they are located around rivers or other water sources because of the amount of water required, which is usually provided through small canals (acequias). They are a kind of market garden.

Huerta in Valencia, Spain

Alternate definitions

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Elinor Ostrom has defined huertas as "well-demarked irrigation areas surrounding or near towns" (emphasis added).^[1]

References

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^ Ostrom, Elinor (2015). Governing the Commons, p.71.

Bibliography

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Glick, Thomas F. 1970. Irrigation and Society in Medieval Valencia. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Maass, Arthur, and Raymond Lloyd Anderson. 1978. ...and the Desert Shall Rejoice: Conflict, Growth and Justice in Arid Environments. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN 9780262131346
Ostrom, Elinor (2015 [1990]). "Huerta Irrigation Institutions." Pp.69-82 in Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107569782