Puerto Ricanstruction: Sustainable Agriculture and Decolonization

PUERTO RICO LOCALLY GROWN
In this Sept. 19, 2016 photo, rice farm worker Jonathan Rodriguez manages the irrigation system at Fraternity Farm in Lajas Valley in Guanica, Puerto Rico. The rice venture is one of about 350 farms that the government supported to reduce the island's reliance on expensive food imports, as well as spur growth in the sector that dominated the economy until the 1950s, when the territory began a decades-long transformation into a more urban, developed society where few wanted to work on a farm. Carlos Giusti / AP Photo
PUERTO RICO LOCALLY GROWN
In this Sept. 19, 2016 photo, rice farm worker Jonathan Rodriguez manages the irrigation system at Fraternity Farm in Lajas Valley in Guanica, Puerto Rico. The rice venture is one of about 350 farms that the government supported to reduce the island's reliance on expensive food imports, as well as spur growth in the sector that dominated the economy until the 1950s, when the territory began a decades-long transformation into a more urban, developed society where few wanted to work on a farm. Carlos Giusti / AP Photo

Puerto Ricanstruction: Sustainable Agriculture and Decolonization

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Each Monday, during the 2018 hurricane season, Worldview presents the series Puerto Ricanstruction. Three million American citizens on Puerto Rico still face catastrophe, nearly one year after Hurricane Maria devastated the island. On Puerto Ricanstruction, we discuss post-Maria life in Puerto Rico, and issues that matter to the people living there, and to Chicago’s Puerto Rican Diaspora. After Hurricane Maria , it was estimated that eighty percent of Puerto Rico’s agricultural crops had been destroyed according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Ever since then, there have been sweeping efforts to transition the island to practice sustainable farming methods and a push for food sovereignty by advocacy groups and organizations. Joining us to discuss Puerto Rico’s sustainable food movement post-Hurricane Maria is Tara Rodríguez Besosa. Tara is cofounder of the Puerto Rico Resilience Fund and creator of the “El Departamento de la Comida” (The Food Department) Restaurant in San Juan.