His grandfather planted every year until he died at 88, just as their Hopi ancestors had for over 2,000 crop seasons. Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning.

Michael Kotutwa Johnson, a Hopi farmer and faculty member at the University of Arizona, is working to grow thousands of ears of corn at Arcosanti and then make it accessible to the Hopi Tribe.

His mission is to grow thousands of ears of corn at Arcosanti, an experimental town in Mayer, about 70 miles north of metro Phoenix, and then make it accessible to the Hopi Tribe.

In 2012, the Hopi Tribe appeared on the brink of a settlement with the state that would have provided the tribal nation with $113 million for pipelines and other infrastructure to bring ...

He, like most Hopi farmers, uses traditional dryland farming methods in which, rather than irrigating crops, he relies solely on snowmelt and the rain that falls directly on his fields.

An assortment of corn and seeds and a lightning rod are displayed as part of an agriculture tour on the Hopi reservation in northern Arizona on Jan. 23, 2010. Photo by: Felicia Fonseca / AP ...

That year, only 4.3 inches of rain fell in Winslow, the nearest weather station to her town. Hopi corn requires between 6 and 10 inches of rain. The sustained drought also means there is less ...

On the Hopi Reservation, most farmers rely on the rain to grow crops. Their seeds are adapted to dryland farming, but the prolonged drought has reduced harvests. Only about 15 percent of Hopis on ...