That pulse is under threat—from climate disaster, economic crises, and colonial subjugation. But it has protectors. Among them is Katia Avilés-Vázquez, the Executive Director and Co-Founder of IALA-PR, an organization dedicated to promoting agroecology, food sovereignty, and collective land stewardship.
How are they protecting that pulse right now? Through their Land Access Campaign, which focuses on the protection and rights of all farmers.
There are many odds against farmers in Puerto Rico. But the biggest source of anxiety is the threat of being displaced from the land. “Farmers are doing the work. What they need to get out of is that survival loop,” shared Katia.
IALA-PR conducted a study of the farmland market from 2016-2024 and found that the prices for land increased seven-fold in recent years. Developers who are buying up land steadily drive farmers out, and create a prevailing sense of anxiety: will the rent be raised? Will the owner sell?
In 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, and further exposed the colonial subjugation of the island. According to Katia, they were in a sort of “netherspace” as they were not covered by funds from the United States because they were not a part of the United States and they could not qualify for funds from Latin America because they were perceived to be a part of the United States.
Territorio Fideicomiso: Somos Espejos / Land Trust Territory: Somos Espejos
Harmful impacts escalated as foreign investors purchased land, ravaging the local economy.
To fight displacement and reclaim land for the community, IALA-PR joined a growing movement of organizations such as La Organización Boricuá de Agricultura Ecológica and the Community Land Trust for Sustainable Agriculture (FiTiCAS) who were organizing and exploring how community land trusts could be a solution—a legal structure that allows communities to protect themselves.
Carlos and his husband are land stewards of Finca la Cuquita at Morovis, a 2.4 acre micro farm with chickens, quail, and rabbits. His mother harvests green bananas to make Puerto Rican pasteles as her main source of income, and his sister uses the eggs to bake and sell desserts. Prior to joining the community land trust and the Land Access Campaign, Carlos was quite unstable on his own farm. Now, he sees stability and so much more possibility with other land stewards.
In the summer of 2023, seventeen families of land stewards gathered to draft a collective deed. According to Carlos, the stewards’ land “looked like stars,” spread out throughout the archipelago.
On December 22, 2023, the families came together to sign the deed for the community land trust. Members brought sacred items from their land: plants, fruits, incense, and herbs. The items adorned the walls, and colorful cloth covered the tables.
Members Samantha Hosein and Magha Garcia led a mistica during the signing, a symbolic and spiritual opening performance to unite and ground participants. “This community land trust helps our relationship to the land—it can never be sold again. We’re healing generations into the future with a commitment to an agroecological relationship with nature, to be in right relationship with the land. In perpetuity,” shared Bruje Fuego, the Land Access Campaign manager who is also a steward and member at Somos Espejos, a Ceremonial Agricological Retreat Center in Trujillo Alto.
Constitución del Fideicomiso para la Agroecología / Establishment of the Agroecology Trust
“Once you remove people from their land, you remove them from understanding who they are: their purpose, their roots, and all the ancestry. You destroy their connection to spirituality, their relationship to food, and their cosmologies,” said Bruje. Signing this deed together was one critical step towards the restoration of the connection, the purpose, the roots, the ancestral lineage, and the spirit of the land.
Before the land trust was established, women farmers in Guakia faced major challenges securing land. As participants of the Land Access Campaign, they became trustees and beneficiaries of the community-based agroecological land trust. Now, they are not only stable on land, but can continue the regional organizing and political work they have been dreaming of for years.
“Beneficiaries of the Trust are connecting with other farmers in the community land trust that have been doing education and political work, and selling and distributing produce together from their farms," shared Carlos. “Now that they are networked, they can do big things like creating a CSA (community supported agriculture) and a food hub.” Generally, small farms can’t sustain basic community or market needs alone due to structural violence, but together they have a far greater chance.
One specific farmer was quiet throughout the entire process. “We asked him what he thought of the work after our political education and his response was ‘Really excited. For the first time, I can move from ‘This is my farm to this is our land.’ Knowing he’s not alone means so much.”
In addition to securing land and building togetherness via a community land trust, IALA-PR has committed to paying farmers a salary for a year so that they can have further stability.
“These 390+ acres are on our shoulders and we don’t have to carry it alone. At the same time if they come after one of our families, they go after all of us,” said Katia.
By: Dara Cooper, Senior Advisor, National Black Food and Justice Alliance
Learn more about IALA-PR.