Land Rescue as “Hope in Action” in Puerto Rico

Grassroots International is pleased to spotlight our stellar grantee ally, IALA-PR (Instituto para la Investigación y Acción en Agroecología en Puerto Rica/Institute for Investigation and Action in Agroecology in Puerto Rico), whose work was recently featured in the news.

The article, featured in El Nuevo Día, begins with a story of two female farmers who achieved their dream of having a farm only to lose the land they were leasing – and lose the farm and home they had poured their efforts into – when the owner decided to sell it six years later. Their story is not an aberration; it speaks to the major challenges in accessing and securing land for farming across the archipelago in the face of rampant land speculation.

“I believe that projects like the Trust, where ownership is collective, where we make decisions together, where we think about the common good, represent hope in action.” — Marissa, farmer

Such challenges gave rise to IALA-PR’s Land Access Campaign, which rescues agricultural land through purchases and donations and safeguards it over the long term. So far, the Campaign has managed to protect 330 acres in 16 villages and has helped more than 15 farming families settle on protected land. The goal is to reclaim 500 acres by 2028.

IALA-PR’s executive director, Katia, explains how the process works. In short, the Agroecology Trust, set up by IALA-PR and led by a board of trustees, purchases land to protect it in perpetuity. Each project involved receives surface rights that can be sold and inherited. According to Katia: “There are two types of surface rights. There is the housing surface right, which is the structure where families live, and the immediately adjacent land (is the) agricultural surface right.So, those are the two things we are guaranteeing: that families have secure housing and also have these lands guaranteed in perpetuity for agricultural use.”

Katia adds that part of the understanding is that the land will be farmed through agroecological practices. The Trust has created a “seed fund” to provide financial support to these projects as needed.

Marissa, one of the farmers whose story was featured earlier, who went on to co-found Güakiá Farm (“güakiá” meaning “our” in Taíno), shared: “I think we live in times where there is little hope, there is a feeling of hopelessness, of great vulnerability. But I believe that projects like the Trust, where ownership is collective, where we make decisions together, where we think about the common good, represent hope in action.”

Marissa adds: “I think it’s very important that people don’t forget that hope is something you work for, and that it doesn’t come as salvation from elsewhere. It’s being nurtured here, and if we want to be part of that hope, it’s important that we support each other.”

Grassroots International is proud to support this critical work as part of our commitment to strengthening movement infrastructure and is happy to see IALA-PR’s Land Access Campaign get some much-deserved attention.