ABOUT FiTiCAS
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WE MUST IMPLEMENT ALTERNATIVE MODELS OF LAND TENURE THAT SECURE THE SUSTAINABILITY OF LIFE ADVANCING SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EQUITY.
The Fideicomiso de Tierras Comunitarias para la Agricultura Sostenible (Community Land Trust for Sustainable Agriculture), or FiTiCAS, was founded in 2019 as the first agrarian Community Land Trust in Puerto Rico. As a citizen initiative, FiTiCAS’s mission is to secure farmland and other common goods necessary to sustain agroecology and the multilayered networks for just transitions in agriculture, caring for the land and the people who cultivate food sovereignty in Puerto Rico. In this manner, FiTiCAS makes a unique contribution to present and future generations that aspire to build a country that is sustainable, just, and solidary.
FiTiCAS AIMS TO ADDRESS:
Puerto Rico imports over 85% of the food it consumes (Comas, 2020).
Dependence on food imports makes Puerto Ricans more vulnerable to the local and global effects of the climate crisis (Killmann et al., 2008; Mbow et al., 2019).
The current model of agricultural development destroys the ecosystems that agriculture depends on, exhausts the soil, exploits those who cultivate the land, and threatens their health.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Census of Agriculture, most farmers earn less than $20,000 annually.
Industrial agriculture has failed to guarantee the right to healthy food for the world's population, and it does not offer a dignified life for those who grow food.
Government corruption threatens the availability of farmland by placing a priority on profits over offering food security and sovereignty to those of us who live on the islands of Puerto Rico.
FiTiCAS AIMS TO PROMOTE:
Diverse models for sustainable agriculture, including family farming, small-scale agroecological production for local consumption, agroforestry, and small ruminants.
Access to affordable and sustainable housing for those who work the land.
Small agricultural incubators for new farmers.
Cooperatives that address the diverse needs of those who work the land.
Cultural, educational, community, and economic activity organized with agricultural projects.
Other projects in line with FiTiCAS’s mission.
How do we do it?
Collaborating with landowners who see FiTiCAS as the answer to their concerns about agriculture and the use of farmland.
Exploring and designing alternative legal models of land stewardship and tenure.
Protecting lands in perpetuity for agroecological purposes.
Ensuring fair and equitable access to farmland as commons for generations of Puerto Rican farmers.
Working with local farmers to transform agroecological farming into a profession that sustains dignified lives for those who cultivate our land.
Promoting the weaving of necessary networks for the fair and solidarity-based distribution of agricultural products.
Towards the First Agroecological Commons
In May of 2023, we received the donation of Las Perdices Farm, spanning 31 acres in the Karst region of Ciales, marking a pivotal step forward in our mission to protect farmland and support agroecological farmers across Puerto Rico.
This farm will serve as the inaugural Agroecological Commons, dedicated in perpetuity to agroecological practices. Here, farmers from Borikén committed to agroecology will cultivate food sovereignty for generations to come.
Learn more about this transformative initiative and our ongoing efforts towards the creation of the first commons.
TEAM
Mariolga Reyes Cruz, PhD
Cofounder and Executive Director
Ecofeminist community psychologist and documentary filmmaker. She has worked as an adjunct professor at the University of Puerto Rico and has published her work in various media. Since 2018, she has been developing FiTiCAS with the goal of liberating the land from market pressures as a basic condition for achieving food sovereignty and climate justice. She earned a PhD in community psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with support from a Ford Foundation Fellowship. She received the Echoing Green Fellowship in 2021 and the Big Bets Climate Fellowship in 2024 for her work with FiTiCAS.
J. Daniel Lugo Mercado
Coordinator | Land Program
Alumnus of the Graduate School of Public Administration of the University of Puerto Rico. He joined FiTiCAS in 2021 as an intern for Mentes Puertorriqueñas en Acción to develop the Land Program in collaboration with allied organizations and landowners. Upon completing his internship, he accepted the position of coordinator. His background in political theory and public policy has enabled him to integrate the values of FiTiCAS into everyday work.
Ashley A. Torres Rodríguez
Communications Lead
Communicator and agroecology promoter. Clinical herbalist in training and ethnobotany apprentice who aims to sustain healthy communities by providing land access to those who cultivate food and natural medicines in a just and sustainable way. She earned her bachelor's degree with a double major in journalism and political science from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Érika Fontánez Torres
A public intellectual in defense of the commons, environmental justice, and citizen democracy and a professor at the University of Puerto Rico School of Law. She is the author of the book Casa, Suelo y Título: Vivienda e Informalidad en Puerto Rico (House, Land, and Title: Housing and Informality in Puerto Rico), in which she analyzes—through the voices of communities—the challenges of achieving land tenure created by the development of property public policy in Puerto Rico.
JuanMa Pagán Teitelbaum
A documentary filmmaker and agroecology promoter, he grew up first on rescued lands and then in a housing cooperative. He earned his master's degree in film and Caribbean studies from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Alongside Mariolga Reyes Cruz, he has produced over 30 short documentaries on sustainable agriculture and the award-winning feature film Serán las dueñas de la tierra (Stewards of the Land). His work has been fundamental in making visible Puerto Rico’s agroecology movement and its struggles.
Stephanie Rodríguez Ocasio
A farmer raised in the mountains of Ciales, she has memories of working on the farm picking coffee with her father from an early age. She studied in the Puerto Rico public school system and later graduated in agricultural education from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus, inspired by her agronomist uncle. She has been a teacher of agriculture at the Puerto Rico Department of Education for the past seven years. She also works as an agroecological farmer, and she markets her local agricultural products alongside other farmers by distributing crop boxes throughout the main island.
Hilda Bonilla Rodríguez
Agronomist by profession who has been living on the island municipality of Vieques for over ten years. She holds a bachelor's degree in agronomy from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus (UPR-RUM) and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix. She currently works for the Agricultural Extension Service of the UPR-RUM and is part of several community organizations, such as La Colmena Cimarrona, Vieques En Rescate, and La Alianza de Mujeres Viequenses. She focuses on sustainable agricultural development to achieve food sovereignty.
Rubén Colón Morales
Attorney graduated from the University of Puerto Rico School of Law, who holds a master's degree from Harvard University and is currently completing his PhD in social economy at the University of Valencia. He is a professor of cooperative law and of public policies of cooperativism and the solidarity economy at UPR. He has published various articles and opinion columns in both international and local journals on cooperative law and the cooperative movement in Puerto Rico.
Agriculture is an essential activity for sustaining life. We need local food systems that are fair to those who cultivate the land sustainably and to local consumers.
ADD TO THE FUND
Invest in food sovereignty!
Make a donation to the FiTiCAS fund so we can protect Puerto Rican farmlands dedicated to sustainable agriculture.
These lands will be collectively stewarded and managed to produce food for local consumption, and protected in perpetuity to ensure just and equitable access to the land and its sustainable use for generations.
ADD TO THE PROTECTED LANDS
We have farmlands in Puerto Rico, and we need to share them! We need allies who are willing to share resources in order to achieve a just and sustainable food system.
At FiTiCAS, we create different types of agreements. Depending on the circumstances of each landowner and each farm, FiTiCAS can receive properties as a donation or inheritance, and we can create agreements for medium- or long-term use and enjoyment.
Are you interested in sharing lands for sustainable agriculture?
