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This is one of a series of questions also discussing mosquito prevention.

There is a civilization indigenous to an area like the whitewater flooded forests of the southern half of the Amazon basin. This civilization is in the Bronze age.

The forests are in a six month wet-dry cycle, with water level in forest going up and down by about 10m. In the 'dry' season, the people plant maize, beans, and sweet potatoes on terra firma on the edge of the floodplain as soon as the water levels drop. In the 'wet' season, these people will make floating gardens in which they plant arrowroot, leren, and runner beans (as well as vegetables, like tomato and chilis).

The selected of plants will need about 1 foot of soil to grow, preferably 2 feet. The floating farm would be filled with soil each year as the water levels rise, and then emptied during the dry season. A re-usable structure would be best. These floating farms are kept in the flooded forest area outside of the main streams, 'moored' to various tall trees; Acai or Kapok are often planted for this purpose. Stream flow rates are negligible for most of the season, its more like a lake, so the structure does not have to be that strong.

My question is: how would a floating farm be built, and how large would these farms be?

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3  
Why would you need floating farms? The people of Egypt did just fine with millenia of annual flooding. – jamesqf 10 hours ago
    
@jamesqf Flooding in a varzea is really not comparable to flooding of the Nile. The Nile flood is worth about 15 km$^3$ a month for three months. The Purus is worth about 13000m$^2$/s, or 35 km$^3$ a month for 6 months. The Purus is the 7th largest tributary of the Amazon. Another concern is that there is no iron to clear the dense rainforest and make much farmland. – kingledion 10 hours ago
    
How long has the civilization been in South America? When I suggested a South American solution to the mosquito question I seem to remember you dismissing it by saying no, the location is actually more like Africa ... and yet we are back in Americas. For the sake of better answers it would help if you picked one region and fleshed it out with consistent information. – Zxyrra 9 hours ago
    
@Zxyrra This civilization is not on Earth, so it is neither South America nor Africa. It has characteristics of both. The Congo has flooded forests too, just not as extensive or wet. Generally, you can use the characteristics of either region to answer these questions. To answer your question civilization is anciently indigenous to this area; humankind evolved on the savannas nearby, and this rainforest is one of the 'cradles' of agriculture. – kingledion 9 hours ago
up vote 19 down vote

The Mayan created "floating" farms called Chinampa. But you want real floating farms to handle flooding, the good news is they already exist and have for centuries. Actual floating farms to deal with massive flooding has been used extensively in Bangladesh for centuries.

First you make a bed of reeds and bamboo and a thin almost sprinkling of soil followed by another layer of reeds and farm similar to hydroponics. You can read a more detailed account of how they are made and used here. http://www.irinnews.org/report/90002/bangladesh-spreading-floating-farms%E2%80%99-tradition

http://www.fao.org/climatechange/17849-0e277b46b31f98942e6bc81bb22319243.pdf

and a great cross section here http://practicalaction.org/floating-gardens

Note that besides vegetables floating platforms also make for very good fish farms.

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Was about to say this, +1 – Zxyrra 9 hours ago
up vote 0 down vote

You could make a MAGLEV farm field, but before that you need to drain proof your field that would need a fail safe plan.

By drain proof i meant to make the field effectively transfer liquids all over the field without leaving an inch of it partially wet/flooded. To make the farm environment friendly you could power it by using renewable power resources.

According to you query :

these people will make floating gardens in which they plant arrowroot, leren, and runner beans (as well as vegetables, like tomato and chilis).

Seems perfect to me because runners and crops are light weight and there would only be small payload on levitating gardens/farms unlike big trees.

A small example is given below, for now its a show off/ display material but for future earth/mars this could be a viable solution :)

Levitating plant

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