Veronica Noriega isn’t a big coffee drinker, but that hasn’t stopped her from doing something she’s never done before – helping coffee farmers in Puerto Rico pick their first crops Hurricane Maria destroyed 85 percent of coffee crops four years ago.
Noriega, 25, was among a dozen first-time volunteers helping coffee grower Pedro Ponce, whose farm, Hacienda Ponce in the city of Lares, was completely destroyed after a deadly 2017 hurricane.
The initiative Noriega joined was led by Committed, A youth-led independent non-profit group that aims to promote economic development and long-term sustainability in the island archipelago.
The group also distributed 750,000 saplings to family-owned coffee farms such as Hacienda Ponce, which are vital to the economy of Puerto Rico’s small mountain towns.
Now, the trees are producing their first crops since Maria was planted in the fields.
“It really gave us a lot of hope that we can get up again,” said Iris Janet Rodriguez, a coffee grower in the city of Adjuntas and president of the company. Procafe, a non-profit group created by ConPRmetidos to serve the needs of coffee farms in Puerto Rico.
Challenge: Shortage of pickers
Rodriguez said it takes three to five years for a coffee tree to produce its first crop. But coffee farmers like myself are facing another challenge that threatens their miraculous harvest – a shortage of pickers. Without enough people to pick up the coffee beans, part of the crop could go to waste.
“Coffee is harvested once a year, but the income from these crops drives the mountain economy. Those earnings last for months,” Rodriguez, 56, said in Spanish. “We don’t want the investment we’ve made on fertilizers, and our time is making sure these trees lose it.”
On Wednesday morning, Eric Torres and some of his coffee pickers were at his farm in the town of Adjuntas.
“The reality is that it’s not often enough,” Torres, 55, said of the available pickers. “That’s why I was so grateful to welcome these volunteers.” A week earlier, Torres welcomed volunteers from Puerto Rico’s metropolitan area who had never worked a farm before.
“Because of the topography you’re exposed to, you need certain abilities to be able to have coffee,” he said. “They may not come to the countryside very often, but they came here, they had a good time and learned about the coffee industry.”
make agriculture sustainable again
Ponce, 60, whose family has been growing crops for three decades, said he never leaves weather reports on TV. He also gets worried when a storm blows away from Puerto Rico.
“What we did with Maria, followed by another hurricane destroyed everything we’ve worked so hard to develop … it would be devastating,” he said.
This is where volunteers like Noriega can make a difference in time while learning about the families that keep the coffee industry alive.
“They helped me save a coffee tree that was so ripe that if they didn’t pick it up sooner, it could be lost,” Ponce said.
“I wanted to connect with the earth”
After spending too much time working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Noriega began to feel that “this thing inside of me is telling me that I need to connect to the earth,” she said. “Coming closer to Earth has made me think a lot” food insecurity issues And how important it is to understand what we consume.”
When Noriega volunteered at Hacienda Ponce, he was tasked with picking up coffee beans from small trees, which were full of ants because of how close they were to the ground.
“I thought I wasn’t going to get dirty because we were picking beans from a tree, so I left my gloves at home,” she said in Spanish. “Well, while I didn’t get dirty, I was bitten by a swarm of ants. So, I learned the hard way that it is important to always wear gloves.”
Despite the rookie mistakes, Ponce said coffee picking is “not rocket science.” They just have to make sure the bean is as close to red as possible,” he said. “But it’s definitely hard work.”
This is an idea shared by Noriega, who helped recruit other volunteers through his job at the non-profit organization Puerto Rican Minds in Action, which promotes civic engagement.
Speaking of regular coffee pickers, she said, “It’s not easy carrying a basket when you pick the beans – I really think these workers don’t get the pay they deserve.” “We were there for like two hours and we wanted to die, how tired we were.”
Challenges to reducing dependence on imports
When Maria devastated Puerto Rico, making food items harder to obtain and distribute, it exposed the American territory to natural disasters and severe shortages of domestic food. Puerto Rico imports about 85 percent of all its food, produces only 15 percent of what is consumed.
This has contributed to long-standing food insecurity issues that worsened nearly a decade ago, when Puerto Rico began Largest municipal bankruptcy proceedings in US history. subsequent natural disasters such as hurricanes, Earthquake And the pandemic exacerbated the problem.
Rodriguez said the food is mostly imported “because the cost of labor and production in Puerto Rico is very high, and we can’t compete with external costs.”
Ponce said that among the expenses that make coffee production cost so high are electricity and propane gas to roast the coffee beans. In Puerto Rico, a gallon of propane gas can cost up to $3 more electricity customers pay double for electricity As for US customers for unbelievable service.
This is why coffee producers such as Ponce and Torres sell most or all of their coffee harvest to companies that have the means to process the coffee and sell it to consumers.
“We don’t know when the electricity will go out or when it will come back, but if there is one industry that can function without electricity and without internet, it is agriculture,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez expects her coffee harvest to be ready sometime in October and said she looks forward to welcoming volunteers who can help her pick up the coffee beans.
“Educating Puerto Rican consumers about the benefits of consuming local products is also essential,” Rodriguez said. “They’re fresh and safe, because their products abroad don’t necessarily have the same restrictions on the use of chemicals or pesticides, and help the local economy.”
Follow NBC Latino Feather Facebook, Twitter And instagram.