Trade, tenure and tourism in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico: Understanding the Policy Frameworks that will increase success for an Organics Agriculture

Trade, tenure and tourism in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico: Understanding the Policy Frameworks that will increase success for an Organics Agriculture

Summary

The U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico have been territories of the United States for many decades. These island territories are located in the Caribbean Sea. Their major agricultural products include: sugarcane, coffee, fruits and vegetables, livestock products, chickens and dairy (Puerto Rico) and adding to that array forage crops, horticultural specialties, fish and aquaculture (U.S. Virgin Islands.) While there is substantial agriculture given the size of landmass available, agriculture within the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico has many challenges. While there is effort to strengthen the economic situation of Caribbean island nations, the USVI and PR are not included within the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI).

Strengthening opportunities for linkages between the growing tourism industry, existing agricultural operations, and potential organic and sustainable operations is needed. The tourism industry imports virtually all of its food supply needs. By improving the relationship between existing and potential agricultural enterprises within the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico and the tourism venues that exist within those territories, much can be done to improve the situation of those who are involved in agriculture, as well as improve the situation for an improved sustainable and organics agriculture.

Objectives of the project include research and analysis of policy constraints/barriers to enhanced agricultural market development, particularly in organics and sustainable agricultural products, in general and with the existing tourism sector, specifically.

The project was initiated in July 2004 with meetings with key stakeholders, field visits and refinement of the research and outreach plan of the project. A focus group analysis was developed by identifying participants and sets of questions. Results of the focus group meetings will be used to develop a survey questionnaire to be implemented in 2005. Finally, in the final year of the project, the results will be shared with others in the region through outreach efforts.

Objectives/Performance Targets

This project addresses the priority area for SSARE concerning analysis of policy, program evaluation, and quality of life. The farming communities within USVI/PR are made up of many who do not have access to vast amounts of land. Their tenure is, for the most part, not based on land ownership and as such their capacity and incentive to conserve, protect or make substantial or expensive changes in production practices and methods is limited. They also are limited in terms of their access to credit. So, to that extent, they are limited-resource farmers. The project objectives are aimed at increasing and encouraging growth in the organics and sustainable agriculture sector, particularly in its linkages with existing tourism sectors and other appropriate avenues that will encourage stabilization and growth of agriculture in the islands. Implicit in the goal of encouraging growth in the organics and sustainable agriculture sectors is the encouragement of environmentally sound agricultural practices and preservation and conservation of agricultural ecosystems in the islands. Finally, by encouraging and fostering growth in the organics and sustainable agriculture sectors, the marketing of agricultural products at the local-island level and the promotion of economic development within the islands by linking the local food system to the local tourism industry will necessarily be the avenue of choice.

Having demonstrated the cross-cutting nature of the proposed project (i.e., across multiple priority areas of the SSARE programming effort), the project directors and collaborators settled on the emerging priority area of: Policy, Program Evaluation, and Quality of Life as the priority area for this particular project. The thread that intertwines all goals and objectives of the project is the need to analyze different policy options available to the island agriculturalists in order to determine the potential for greatest achievement of the goals of encouraging local food in the tourism industry and increasing the presence of organics and sustainable agriculture within the island agricultural sector.

Policy identification and the process of evaluating different policy scenarios throughout the course of this project will give the Island participants the opportunity to determine the best avenues to address current policy situations and the clearest path to policy reforms that might be needed in order to encourage organic and sustainable agriculture in linkage with the local tourism industry.

Objectives of the project include: 1) conduct research and analysis of policy constraints/barriers to enhance agricultural market development, particularly in organics and agricultural products in sustainable production systems, in general; 2) conduct research and analysis of the policy constraints/barriers, opportunities and potential economic impact for increases in organic and sustainable marketing specifically within the tourism sectors in both the USVI/PR; and 3) transmittal/outreach of project findings to the agricultural, trade and tourism sectors throughout USVI/PR.

The project team will meet regularly to review progress and constraints in achieving project goals. Meetings will be accomplished via telephone conference calls and with in-person meetings on a regular basis. The effectiveness of this project will be determined in a number of ways. Our criteria will be compared to contributions reported by survey respondents (e.g., did we identify all relevant subject areas for exploration or did respondents enlighten us further into our study). Survey demographic results will be compared to information from the official agricultural statistical survey sources, as well as other relevant sources, to determine if consistencies exist across data collection methods. Requests for information will be monitored. Information gained at the end of the project as to policies impacted, plans for change and linkages encouraged (especially involving keys and barriers to success) will be monitored beyond the project time frame (should resources permit).

Effectiveness of the project in gaining participation from those affected in the USVI/PR will be determined through responses to survey instruments, participation in focus group sessions, and through participation in an end-phase symposium on the issues.
Surveys from participants at the end-phase symposium on the issues will be analyzed to determine effectiveness of the program in achieving desired results and will be incorporated into follow-on activities that result from this project. Evaluation of the effectiveness of this project in achieving increased success in the organics/sustainable agriculture arena, particularly in making connections between that industry and the tourism industry, will be measured at the beginning and the end of the project by surveys. These surveys will be designed to elicit data that will gauge participation on the part of producers in providing agricultural products to the tourism industry and gauging participation and interest by the tourism industry in purchasing locally produced agricultural products. Ultimately, the success of the project will be measured by the overall analysis of policy impacts and whether key policies were identified for change and finally whether change occurred that would herald an improved situation for sustainable agriculture, the local producer, and the organic sector growth.

Accomplishments/Milestones

The project was initiated in July 2004 with an initial meeting of the project coordinators.
The research and outreach plan was reviewed. The coordinators held meetings with key stakeholders including the State Senate Chair of the Committee on Labor and Agriculture, the Dean and Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station, the former Chairman of the Association of Resorts and Restaurants, Director of the USVI Survey Unit, and numerous agricultural research and extension staff. Field trips included visits to four farms, a bush tea processing facility, a city farmers market, a producer group’s rural wholesale/retail market and the Agricultural Experiment Station.

The initial meeting coincided with the 40th Annual Conference of the Caribbean Food Crops Society (CFCS). This organization is the premier agricultural society in the Caribbean region with almost 400 active members in 22 countries. The annual meeting provides participants an opportunity to share results of research which, whether presented orally or as posters, are published in an edited proceedings. This meeting was organized in part by one of this project’s Coordinators, Dr. Louis Peterson, and provided significant interaction with researchers, from across the Caribbean regions, who are engaged in research on sustainable and organic food systems.

The research coordinators have held regular telephone meetings to implement the project objectives. The first activity has been the development of a focus group exercise that will provide for the development of the survey questionnaire to be developed in the second year of the project. Three focus groups were identified: 1) Producers and Service Providers, 2) Hospitality Industry Stakeholders, and 3) Policy Makers. Focus group questions were developed for each of these groups. The coordinators identified six to eight participants for each focus group panel. Meetings were scheduled to be held in the spring of 2005. An evaluation of the focus group meetings will be conducted in the summer of 2005 and the survey questionnaire instrument will be developed.

Focus group questions for the producer and service providers include: 1) what are the important issues in the agricultural sector that are pertinent to the development of a successful, sustainable agricultural industry in the US Virgin Islands? 2) What are the constraints that inhibit the development of a successful agricultural industry in the US Virgin Islands? 3) What are some possible recommendations to address the constraints identified in question 2? 4) How can these recommendations (from question # 3) be realized? 5) How realistic are these recommendations?

Focus group questions for the hospitality industry group include: 1) what are the important issues in the Hospitality industry that are pertinent to the development of a successful agri-tourism or agri-hospitality industry in the US Virgin Islands? 2) What are the constraints in the hospitality industry that limit or prevent the development of a successful agri-tourism industry in the US Virgin Islands? 3) What are possible recommendations to address the constraints identified in question # 2? 4) How can these recommendations be realized? 5) How realistic are these recommendations?

Focus group questions for the policy makers group include: 1) what are the policy issues that are pertinent to the development of a successful sustainable agricultural industry in the US Virgin Islands? 2) What are the current constraints to developing policy to establish a successful, sustainable agricultural industry in the US Virgin Islands?
3) What policies do you recommend to address the constraints identified in question # 2, and promote the establishment of a successful, sustainable agriculture industry in the US Virgin Islands? 4) How can these recommendations be realized? 5) How realistic are these recommendations?

During their meeting in July 2004, the coordinators obtained current policy and pending legislation on agricultural, food marketing and land tenure. A legal and policy analysis was initiated in 2004 and will be completed in 2005. The legal and policy analysis will culminate in a report in 2005 that will be distributed to interested individuals within the USVI and will include not only a thorough examination of the proposed legislation (2004) but a comparison of legislation in the mainland United States that have served to further and strengthen the development of local food systems. The report will also include a discussion of the legal/policy constraints and barriers that have been experienced and anticipated by other mainland United States organizations that are encouraging local food system development in anticipation that continued comparison, contrast and strengthening of the policy scenarios will occur by focusing attention to the current and anticipated/desired legislative changes on tap in the USVI. The political climate for changes in legislation that positively or negatively affect growth of local food systems is of concern throughout the sustainable and organic communities and the specific challenges of USVI as a territory and not a state will also be discussed in the report.

Finally, during the final phase of the project, the project coordinators anticipate briefing the receiving communities in USVI concerning the legal/policy analysis of constraints and barriers as well as advising those interested parties concerning the outcomes and recommendations gleaned from focus group and survey activities.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

In addition to the activities described in the project as funded by SSARE, the coordinators have assisted one individual and one farm producer group in the development of small business innovation grants and sustainable producer project proposals. These efforts will continue throughout the life of the project as appropriate. One of the individuals assisted has recently been invited as a presenter at the upcoming October 2005 Women in Sustainable Agriculture Conference to be held in Burlington, VT. Policy, economic, and legal analyses of constraints have been initiated and will be continued in 2005. The focus of the project has been on the Virgin Islands. No coordinator from Puerto Rico was willing to participate initially in this project due to lack of available personnel. As the project develops in its second year, further contacts with potential research collaborators from Puerto Rico will be pursued to potentially broaden the analysis and impact of the project.

Collaborators: