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Agroecology in Puerto Rico
Agroecology is an ecological approach to agriculture that views agricultural areas as ecosystems and is concerned with the ecological impact of agricultural practices. It has become increasingly important to urbanized environments as it explores how urban areas can become less taxing to the environment. Despite Puerto Rico having a lot of agricultural land and tropical forest within its 3,515 mi², a lot of the land has been industrialized, and has become urbanized. The island has experienced a recent surge in people both in rural and urban areas, who are committed to agroecology and food sovereignty. Some may think of it as "farm-to-table," but in Puerto Rico some also see it as "street-to-table." However their movements are ambitious. Puerto Rico's agroecosystems have faced centuries of plantation agriculture as well as exposure to green revolution chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. The population of Puerto Rico has also been importing about 80 percent of its food for over 50 years. There is also the challenge of historical stigma to overcome, as for some the idea of smallholder farming carries lingering historical connotations.

Industrialization
Prior to World War II, Puerto Rico’s economy was based on agriculture, as it’s tropical climate allowed for crops to grow year-round. The main focus of crops being sugar cane, tobacco and citrus fruits. After the end of World War II, Puerto Rico began to industrialize. In the year 1947, Puerto Rico adopted the Industrial Incentives Act of 1947 which provided private firms with a ten year tax exemption from insular income and property taxes, municipal taxes, excise taxes on raw materials and machinery, as well as industrial licenses. This act was amended in 1948. By the time the constitution of the new Commonwealth of Puerto Rico was ratified on July 25, 1952, about 152 factories were operational. The majority of which focused on consumer goods like, textiles, footwear, electronics equipment and wiring. In 1959 the manufacturing center’s income exceeded that of Puerto Rico’s agriculture. These factories were labor intensive. In 1950 there were about 203,000 workers employed in agriculture. By 1960 there were only 124,000 workers employed by the agriculture sector. This number has been decreasing ever since. Meanwhile manufacturing employment increased from 55,000 to 82,000 during that same decade. Total employment in Puerto Rico decreased from 603,000 in 1951 to 543,000 in 1960. During the 1950’s-1960’s, 450,000 Puerto Ricans migrated to the United States.

Debt
Puerto Rico has a 72 billion dollar bond debt, and an additional 49 billion in unfunded pensions. About 40 percent of the population is employed. In addition to the debt and poor economy, many Puerto Ricans are looking for jobs on the U.S. mainland. In 2016 Puerto Rico's population was estimated to be about 3.4 million people, in 2004 the population was estimated to be 3.8 million. Today, puerto Rico imports about 85 percent of it’s food supply. This process although typical of modern island cultures, like Hawaii, is costly due to the Jones Act of 1920. The Jones Act requires that any vessel shipping goods within the United States must be U.S. operated and owned, under this act any imported food from other countries must stop on the United States’ mainland and be switched onto a U.S. vessel before it can be shipped to Hawaii, Alaska or any U.S. territories. The act also means that Puerto Ricans must pay more for basic necessities, including food.

Hurricanes of 2017
In September, 2017, Puerto Rico was hit by a series of hurricane which had negative impacts on the island, and on it's agriculture. The larger two being hurricanes Irma and Maria. Hurricane Irma was a category 5 storm, whose eye passed north of Puerto Rico. The storm left 1 million puerto Ricans without power on September 7, 2017. The most devastating was hurricane Maria, the category 4, nearly category 5 hurricane hit puerto Rico on September 20, 2017. When Maria hit, 60,000 Puerto Ricans were still facing a power outage caused by hurricane Irma. Puerto Rico had not experienced a hurricane so powerful since hurricane Georges. Hurricane Georges had winds of 115 mph, hurricane Maria had winds of 155 mph. It was described as if "a 50 to 60 mile wide tornado ranges across Puerto Rico like a buzz saw" by a meteorologist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research. The hurricane damaged 80 percent of the island's power lines. With no electricity, there is no water being pumped into people's homes. On October 11, FEMA reported a concern of food shortage on the island. According to FEMA the government is providing 200,000 meals a day, but there is a shortfall of 2 million meals a day. Hurricane Maria destroyed about 80 percent of the crop value in Puerto Rico. In comparison hurricane Georges only decimated 50 percent of crops. Although agriculture is only 0.8 percent of Puerto Rico's GDP, employing 1.6 percent of the labor force, it amounts to a 780 million loss. The damage will take one year, to one year and a half of recovery, due to the time it will take for these crops to regrow. This is a major setback for those who were starting to look towards agroecology on the island.

New Wave of Farmers
Recently there has been an increase in interest of buying homegrown crops in Puerto Rico. Considering Puerto Rico’s 72 billion dollar debt, the Jones Act, and this year’s multiple hurricanes, this could help inform how the term “food sovereignty,” which includes the right of peoples to define their own food and agriculture systems, has become an appealing to the Puerto Rican people. According to the 2012 Census of agriculture, in 2012 Puerto Rico only had about 13,000 farms. Puerto Rico has reclaimed more than 30,000 acres of agricultural land, and more than 1,700 farms have been started up since 2012. Still Puerto Rico’s area is slightly less than three times the size of Rhode Island, according to the CIA’s world Factbook. About half of that area consists of mountains and is therefore unsuitable for agriculture.

This challenge has motivated up and coming Puerto Rican farmers to tap into the growing demand for organic product and grass-fed cattle. Puerto Rico’s climate would provide year-round, pasture fed cattle. Puerto Rican farmers understand that tropical grasses can be harmful to cattle, but some are experimenting with Mulato and Cayman, which are grasses that grow quickly and have been identified as “best for cattle grazing” by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).
 * Cattle Diet Experimenting

In the past 30 years, there has been an increase of sustainable food movements. Organizations like Boricua de Agricultura Ecologica de Puerto Rico and El Departamento De La Comida aimed at promoting local farming and connecting Puerto Rican farmers to Puerto-Rican consumers. On top of providing connections, they also aim to educate Puerto Ricans about how to start and maintains their own gardens. One way this is being done is by revolutionizing the way Puerto Ricans think about agriculture and particularly those who work in agriculture, los “Jibaros”.
 * Community Supported Agriculture

Renegotiating the Term Jibaro
Once a symbol of pride a stigma was developed for the Puerto Rican who were still working as smallholder farmers, Jibaros. The origin of this stigma has often been tied to Operation Bootstrap, or “Operacion Manos a la Obra,” which was a series of industrialization projects that took place after WWII that transformed Puerto Rico’s economy from an agricultural to an industrial one. The Jibaro eventually became a person who was thought of as uneducated, ignorant, and “stuck in time,” as could be illustrated in Esmeralda Santiago’s memoir “When I was Puerto Rican’ Today, young Puerto Ricans are reclaiming the word and repurposing it in the hopes of motivating Puerto Ricans to forget the stigma and embrace self-sufficiency.


 * References **