https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/joe-perez/week-01-hw-project-ideas/index.htmlWhat would you like to biomanufacture and why? I would like to make a microbial inoculant for a traditional milpa, or Three Sisters system, of corn, beans, and squash. The inoculant would contain beneficial bacteria and fungi that could help the plants get nutrients from the soil while also potentially helping them survive periods of drought or flooding. I became interested in this idea because of my background and interest in agriculture, especially Indigenous agricultural systems. A lot of modern agriculture is based around growing one crop at a time, while a milpa grows multiple crops together. Corn, beans, and squash can benefit each other in different ways, so I thought it would be interesting to see if beneficial microorganisms could also be selected specifically for the three crops growing together instead of for only one crop. I am especially interested in making the inoculant help with water stress. Drought is an obvious problem for agriculture, but too much water can also be damaging. Flooding can leave soil saturated with water and reduce the amount of oxygen available to plant roots. I have seen examples of both problems affecting Indigenous farming communities. A few years ago, severe flooding in Oaxaca damaged agricultural fields, while more recently a Mam woman I follow who grows traditional crops with her family in Georgia described their crops struggling with drought. My idea would be to find bacteria and fungi that already have useful relationships with plants and combine several of them into one product. Some might help plants obtain nutrients, while others might help plants deal with drought or very wet soil. The goal would not necessarily be to make the plants completely drought- or flood-proof. Instead, I would want to see whether the inoculant could make the Three Sisters more resilient so that they have a better chance of surviving stressful growing conditions and still producing a crop.Hugoen