Edition #3: Hydroponics, Aquaponics and redefining agriculture in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico has a rich agricultural tradition and history seen in ag-inspired cultural traditions, festivals and the island’s gastronomy. Agriculture was once the backbone of the island’s economy first through an export-based colonial economy of coffee which experienced a boom here starting in the 1880s. The quality of Puerto Rican coffee was recognized even by the Vatican who purchased large amounts of Puerto Rican coffee up until the 1950s and 1960s. There has been an exciting resurgence of high quality coffee in recent years which has been the hard work of many good-hearted folks with excellent farms whom I have had the pleasure of meeting over the years. After the coffee boom turned to bust in the early 20th century, the American government moved in to promote sugar plantations in the coastal floodplains. Big American Sugar established itself (Domino Sugar made their start in PR) and played a heavy hand in local affairs. Then in the 1940s, the PR government launched “Operation Bootstrap” known as Operación Manos a la Obra in Spanish, which drastically changed the economic landscape of the island. Factories and industrial parks opened up and rural farmers left pico y pala behind to join the rapidly industrializing workforce. Agriculture was pushed to the periphery as Puerto Rico urbanized but deep agricultural traditions and the gastronomic influence of local agriculture remained. 

Farming in Puerto Rico has gained new momentum fueled by interest in technology, a young generation concerned with where their food comes from, the growing consciousness of consumers, and the general frustration with pricey, unsustainable imported foods. As an organization working to usher in a new generation of farmers, Monte Azul has been working to encourage the implementation of technology into farming to help farm more efficiently, increase productivity, and increase profitability of small-scale farms. The island’s collaborative environment around sustainable agriculture is the key to bringing about system-wide change. 

I’m constantly impressed by the commitment and top talent we have here working on sustainable agriculture. The folks over at Guariké, a agro-tech start up, born from Agronomy students of the University of Puerto Rico - Mayagüez, has been a go-to partner for bringing their exciting technology to small scale farmers in our program. Their app-based system helps farmers administer their operation more efficiently, helps farmers understand and implement measures to be FSMA (Food Safety and Modernization Act) compliant, and addresses key frustrations heard from small-scale farmers who are often overwhelmed by farm administration duties and paperwork. We’ve invited Guariké on two occasions to come to Yabucoa and speak with farmers in our Farm Acceleration Program about the importance of their product. 

Much innovation is happening in ag from implementing soil sensors, AI, and robotics to farming. I was at Engine-4 recently in Bayamón for the first time in two years and was blown away by what Co-Founder Luis Torres is working on. A Farm Bot provides the precise amount of water and fertilizer to a raised bed in the front of the facility and a 3D printer lab is working 24/7 to print artificial corals that are installed on the island’s reefs to provide a structure for natural corals to grow thus rapidly accelerating the regeneration of coral reefs. NASA, NOAA, T-Mobile, Microsoft and the US Air Force work in conjunction with Engine-4’s various tech projects helping to attract resources to this space and create opportunities for young talent to grow and stay on the island. 

3-D printed corals, a 3-D printed vertical hydroponics tower, and 3-D printers at Engine-4

Demonstrating that agriculture is more than just a traditional plow and hoe is an important part of Monte Azul’s work. Our hope is that more young people will be inspired by these new, and exciting ways of farming, whether that is farming indoors in a controlled environment, urban farming, or using drones to manage a crop field. To be clear, we also feature traditional ways of planting in our curriculum. Recently we taught a workshop on how to plow land with the traditional team of two oxen and a plow which was a fun (and tiring!) hands-on learning activity. We take an objective look at the pros and cons of various planting methods encouraging our students to do the same and to learn from each, to experiment on their own farms, and to find which methods work best according to their unique farm characteristics and their individual interests. Doing so helps break some cultural norms around farming because young people who aren’t exposed as much to agriculture sometimes have the stereotype that farming only looks a certain way, with a machete in hand and using hand tools. Yes, farmers use hand tools, but farming and agriculture is so much more than that, which allows us to inspire and open up young people’s minds to the possibilities and opportunities that lie ahead in an agricultural career.

Monte Azul student, Jazmín, learns from local Yabucoa oxen specialist on how to plow

During 2022, our big project was building a commercial hydroponics system in a 3,600 square foot greenhouse. We hadn’t built a greenhouse before and embarked on what ended up being a much longer journey than intended. Some of the farmers in our program participated in the build and learned alongside us in the process. A local farmer in our program who has been in the planning stages of her aquaponics operation, Betsy, was a steadfast volunteer always assisting in all stages of the build rain or shine. The dedication and support we received from our program participants inspired us through difficult weather conditions usually tropical heat followed by torrential rain.

For our greenhouse, we chose a top-vent design that has a small window at the top of the arches which helps to regulate temperature. Inside of the structure, we built 13 hydroponic production beds. We chose hydroponics, a growing system where plants grow in water rather than in soil, because it is a semi-controlled environment and you can grow a lot of food in a small space. We’ve grown lettuce, cilantro and basil in our system. The greenhouse and our hydroponic planting system have generated a lot of buzz in Yabucoa. Many local farmers have been interested in how it works. We've operated workshops in the greenhouse to teach this growing method, and to share how we built the greenhouse. Ultimately, our goal is that more farmers in the area can learn from us and build their own greenhouse to help boost production and diversify their farm income. 

Monte Azul Hydroponic Greenhouse under construction during June 2022

Monte Azul Farmer Kevin volunteering to build hydroponic grow tubes

Soon we will be converting the hydroponic system to aquaponics which adds fish to the water tanks. The fish waste ends up being the nutrients the plants need to grow, making the system more sustainable and efficient. It can be tricky to manage so many nutrients so our team took a trip to Colombia in February to learn from the experts, Bofish, a group of professors from Chile, Mexico, and Colombia that run 3-day intensive workshops around Latin America. One of our program participants in the Academy of Sustainable Agriculture and Innovation, José Rivera and his brother Juan Pablo, joined us on the trip. He has an aquaponics farm in the town of Comerío with tilapia and shrimp.

From left to right, Michael García Rivera (Chief Agronomist, Monte Azul), Andrew Hermann (Executive Director, Monte Azul), José and Juan Pablo Rivera

Aquaponics Dome in Colombia

3 level Aquaponics Grow Beds

During the workshop we saw how aquaponics growers in Colombia planted vertically adding more production in the same amount of space and we learned how some even implemented a Black Soldier Fly production system to grow fish feed which reduces their inputs. A highlight for me was seeing a dome design system that not only looked super cool but had a 3-level planting system. There were a lot of takeaways that we are still digesting months later. Over this Fall and Winter as we make the transition to aquaponics, we hope young people and aspiring farmers will be encouraged and filled with hope when they see and learn about our growing system. For us, it opens the door to the many farming possibilities on the island to revive local agriculture albeit with some 21st century gadgets that will bring people together in the fight to produce more food for our communities.