Breathing New Life into Abandoned Farms

If you fly into San Juan and start driving out of the metropolitan area in any direction (except North because well you might get a little wet), you will be immediately impressed by the greenery on this island. The northern mountain range features the karst or limestone region with sharp and drastic cliffs called mogotes. This area is home to impressive cave and cavern systems including the largest cavern system in the Western Hemisphere, Las Cavernas de Camuy, a treasured park well worth a visit. You might also notice the vacant farmland. Dotting the coast around the island are the municipalities that are nestled along floodplains where fertile valleys were once home to big sugarcane plantations many decades ago. If you look closely in some of these towns like Yabucoa, Aguada, Barceloneta among others you might even see the ruins of the sugar processing mills. As you go up the mountains, abandoned homes and overgrown farms are also frequently seen as you wind your way up and up to coffee country where the small scale farmer has been squeezed for decades by climate change, volatile price fluctuations, and rising production costs. It's estimated that Hurricane Maria in 2017 destroyed between 80-90% of coffee trees on the island. Many coffee farmers packed up and left farming altogether because coffee takes three years to start producing. Noting that many of these farms were located in remote areas that were also without power and water for up to nine months, María was the nail in the coffin for many farmers already struggling to make it. These rural, mountainous municipalities have struggled with significant population loss and a lack of good employment opportunities.

Monte Azul acquired one of these abandoned coffee farms in the town of Maricao in 2018. Maricao is nestled in the southwest mountains, part of the coffee belt that encompasses the southern and highest mountain range. We’ve been planning and building a vision for this property, and over the last year we started the long, arduous process of rehabilitating the farm and putting it back into production. The goal is to develop a demonstration sustainable farm where we can produce high quality shade coffee and cacao in an agroforestry setting, basically meaning that we leave the native established trees, clean the understory, and replant with coffee and other crops like bananas, plantains and oranges that can produce food. We hope our 23-acre farm can serve as a place for farmers to learn sustainable methods, try out new farming techniques in a risk-free environment, and access native trees from a plant nursery. On site, we will also produce food for the local community - oranges, bananas, plantains, squash, sweet potato, taro, and other fruits and veggies. The site is off-the-grid so we will showcase solar energy and responsible usage of our natural resources. The land is at the very top of a watershed with a spring-fed creek dividing the property. Also, we are planning to build a small laboratory where we can track how the soil health, water health, and climate changes over time with the increased agricultural work being done on the site. Putting a farm back in production that nature reclaimed many years ago is challenging and physically demanding.

A view of the Monte Azul Farm from the mountaintop

Decades ago, farmers and environmentalists were at outs with each other. It was thought that farming was bad for the environment and the farmer was to blame for runoff, spraying harmful chemicals, and destroying waterways. While agriculture does contribute 24% to global greenhouse emissions, the conversation around farming has completely changed. Now we hear terms like sustainable agriculture and regenerative agriculture. While these terms mean different things to different people, now “ecological farming” or farming with nature and natural cycles in some cases can be just as productive as conventional farming. I think of the Rodale Institute in Pennsylvania who has been studying the yield of conventional vs. organic farming in a 40 year Farm Trial. Their findings show that the organic plot is more productive during periods of extreme weather than the conventional plot. I also think of The Land Institute of Salina, KS who has been working on a perennial rice crop in collaboration with a university in China. A study came out last year that the perennial rice is just as productive per acre than the conventional rice. At the same time, consumers are becoming more aware of where their food comes from. Agro-tourism is now a real industry. You can visit the farm, have an educational and fun experience there and really get to know what it takes to grow your food. That is what we are working on bringing to the Monte Azul Farm in Maricao, a place celebrating sustainable agriculture and serving as a farmer training center in the coffee mountains of Puerto Rico. 

Our 23-acre property has a story and that story is very much emblematic of agriculture in Puerto Rico. Over twenty years ago, it was a prosperous coffee farm using shade coffee methods and intercropping oranges, bananas, and plantains. We’ve found the remnants of some of these trees on the property. Thankfully, previous stewards of this land did not adopt harmful deforestation practices which happened in coffee country here over many decades as farmers pushed for more production at the expense of native forest. Shade coffee produces a higher quality product yielding a better price at market and giving the farmer multiple streams of income if they intercrop. The effects of sun coffee can be seen throughout mountainous communities. Our neighboring farm, also abandoned, used sun coffee methods and suffers from serious erosion, a lack of biodiversity, and the soil is exhausted as a result. As farming became less profitable in the 1990s and the working age population left Maricao seeking better job opportunities, this small 23 acre farm shut down. With nearly 100 inches of rain per year and plentiful sunshine, nature quickly reclaims farms as soon as you take your foot off the gas pedal. The two farm structures that are on our property, a house and a small cabin, were left to rot. 

Since we acquired the property in 2018, the access road has been a constant thorn in our side. The road was entirely overgrown. For the first few years you could only access the farm if you had a machete to clear the brush and make a small trail only accessible on foot. There was a downed tree from Hurricane María blocking the way. Then two years ago, we brought in a backhoe and spent four days clearing the access road. We found an asphalt road that is about 30 years old, and we learned quickly that here in the mountains managing water and rain is the main obstacle for keeping these roads in good condition. Landslides are common during storms simply because the oversaturated soil cannot absorb any more water and it collapses. We have had a few instances of mini landslides along the access road. We had to put in a new drainage pipe with mini culverts diverting rain to the creek quickly to reduce landslide hazard along the road. We are in the process of planting vetiver, a grass that has a deep root system and keeps steep terrain stable during excessive rainfall. 

A backhoe in 2022 clearing the access road to the Monte Azul Farm

A before and after photo of the access road at the Monte Azul Farm

While the road has been a constant project, so has the farm. Recently, we brought in a bulldozer to clear the network of farm trails that we knew existed on the farm but was completely overgrown. For the first time we were able to really get into the farm and see what we are dealing with. It’s exciting to plan, design, and see the farm take shape. We're nearly complete on the small cabin structure which will have a tool shed, a small area to roast and package coffee, and a bathroom. The structure needed a new roof, a new floor, along with doors and windows. And soon, we will be breaking ground on the farmhouse. We’ll be adding a second floor to provide staff and volunteer housing and house our mini-farm laboratory with a microscope to analyze soil and water health and provide a place for farmers to gather for workshops. 

The bulldozer arriving at the Monte Azul Farm

The property is home to many, many birds. As an avid birder myself, this place is a paradise. Puerto Rican Todys, 4 inch long emerald colored birds, nest in the mountainsides. We’ve seen Puerto Rican Woodpeckers, and we have a resident population of Red-tail hawks. This place will be a celebration of sustainable agriculture and natural education. Reviving an overgrown farm is backbreaking work. I’ve learned my way around a chainsaw taking out downed and invasive trees. Next, we will bring in a wood chipper to convert all of that material into wood chips, something we can use to garden and lay down on farm trails.

Puerto Rican Tody (ebird)

This work wouldn't be possible without the support of many collaborators, grant-making bodies and individuals. Last month, we were able to share our progress with the Staff from Titín Foundation who awarded Monte Azul a grant to plant coffee, purchase a coffee roaster, and develop a specialty coffee brand that will serve as an important revenue stream to support our work long term. While walking our new farm trails, we shared our plan of action and how this farm will serve the surrounding agricultural community. The work will take years to convert this blank canvas into the place we envision. Our hope is that our process will be one that other aspiring farmers can learn from and emulate. Many farms around the island are like ours. I think of two farmers in our Business Accelerator Program, Nick and Salvador in Yabucoa who spent nearly three years just chopping through forest to clear areas for planting. They’ve taught me many lessons and their farm has been an inspiration to me and others just as I hope the Monte Azul Farm inspires the next generation of sustainable farmers in Puerto Rico.

Monte Azul Staff, Titín Foundation Staff, and TechnoServe Puerto Rico