More is More: A Latino Way of Farming

This is the first time Ecdysis has visited agricultural systems outside the North American subcontinent; and for many members of our team it is their first time visiting the Caribbean. These systems are very difficult to describe because they fall outside the lines of what has been considered “established” by old agronomic norms developed beyond the tropics, and these lines won't fully explain them. Perhaps we all arrived in Puerto Rico expecting to see tropical production systems that were nonetheless structured, grid-like, and rigid. Instead, the biological, cultural, and human maximalism that we experienced revealed how complex life and agriculture can be in other territories.

The production systems were a mixture of semi-perennial crops and mixed annual vegetables, usually cultivated in mountainous areas. They integrate a great diversity of plant species, with minimal or non-disturbance of the natural environment. With coffee, citrus, and musaceae dominating, but also integrating fruit trees, root crops, legumes, vegetables, and many other species, never approaching a monoculture. They are grounded in a deep respect for the forest, the mountains, nature… the Pachamama.

Culturally, we Latinos are sometimes labeled as exaggerated, extroverted, loud, and our agriculture reflects some of that as well. But it is impossible to hide and show it, after having been blessed by the universe or any divinity by being born into an abundant, rich, and diverse land.

Our [Latino] worldview and way of doing agriculture do not seek absolute control over crops, life, or the elements surrounding them. Instead, finding a balance between producing food, sustaining livelihoods, and allowing life to simply exist is the goal. Here, individualism has no place, nor will it ever have one. Social cohesion, family, and community are strong values in agriculture. They are acts of resistance against a system that rewards agricultural extractivism and food importation.

We Latinos, and in this case Puerto Ricans, show us the joy, warmth, and resilience with which we face adversity: hurricanes, landslides, rain, violence, institutional abandonment… the frequent feeling that the world is working against us… and yet, the Latino farmer persists, cultivates, and celebrates life. Living and sowing in this way may serve as a model for the world. 

Reflection by Andres Torres - Latino agroecology specialist -