Building Resilience through Climate-Adaptive Pest Management Practices among Underrepresented Vegetable Farmers in Puerto Rico.

Commodities

Practices

Small, family-owned farms in Puerto Rico (PR), essential for local food security and sovereignty, are disproportionately vulnerable to climate variability due to higher exposure, sensitivity, and limited adaptive capacity. Most farms in PR are small-scale, with 54% selling less than $5,000 in agricultural products annually and about 50% operating on 19 cuerdas or less (1 cuerda = 0.971 acres) [1]. The increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events—e.g., intense rainfall, droughts, and hurricanes—have resulted in significant crop losses and shifts in pest abundance and distribution, further intensifying the island’s dependence on imported food and posing new challenges for pest management [2, 3].

This project seeks to strengthen the resilience (i.e., withstand/absorb and recover from climate shocks) in PR agricultural systems by improving the adaptive capacity of underserved vegetable growers. Findings from a preliminary needs assessment conducted in March 2024 indicated that farmers’ perceived main barrier to sustainability was climate variability, while the greatest need was for sustainable and preventive management practices for pests, including whiteflies, thrips, and caterpillars in multi-crop-based systems (e.g., solanaceous plants, cucurbits, plantains, and herbs) [4]. We propose an interdisciplinary approach to assess and promote sustainable, effective, and preventive pest management practices that enhance farmers’ ability to manage pests and diseases and respond to new pest arrivals amid climate variability. We integrate socio-ecological drivers and barriers in the design and incorporate stakeholder feedback, indigenous knowledge, and local institutions throughout implementation and dissemination. The project’s objectives and anticipated impacts (e.g., reduced crop losses, decreased pesticide use, increased social and human capital, and enhanced food sovereignty) are aligned with the recommended elements of the USDA Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry Strategy (1-4 and 7), supporting the latter with a strong research component in the human dimensions of climate change [5].

Our research plan encompasses: 1) conducting a comprehensive needs assessment covering farmers’ attitudes towards and intentions to adopt sustainable pest management practices, current and previously used pest management strategies, climate adaptation behaviors, and quality-of-life and psychosocial indicators (e.g., multidimensional well-being, social vulnerability, and climate perceptions, psychological distance); results will inform the design of on-farm trials and interview protocols; 2) completing on-farm trials of biopesticides with collaborating farmers in the main vegetable-producing regions of the island (Regions 4-Ponce and 8-San Germán) to evaluate integrating naturally occurring biological control with sustainable insecticide regimes. These case studies will inform adaptable and scalable adoption models for other farmers, and 3) develop decision-making models with drivers and barriers to adopting climate-adaptive pest management plans on the farm using a socio-ecological system framework. The collective map will provide further insights for programmatic activities, policy recommendations, and future research directions for underserved farmers in PR, with potential transferability to vegetable growers facing similar needs in the southern US and the Caribbean basin. Our outreach and evaluation plan includes incorporating stakeholders’ knowledge and feedback into research activities, providing peer-to-peer farmer learning opportunities through field days and farmer-led training videos, and disseminating findings through academic presentations, publications, and printed educational materials in English and Spanish.

1. Evaluate farmers' needs, barriers, and attitudes toward sustainable pest management practices; examine their current and past mitigation and adaptation behaviors; and investigate their climate resilience, multidimensional well-being, climate perceptions, and psychological distance.
2. Develop and implement protocols to evaluate resistance to insecticides within on-farm integrated pest management plans, working with first-adopter grower collaborators to serve as model approaches to address the island’s diversified small farmer pest management priorities.
3. Identify salient drivers and their interrelations for the adoption of climate-adaptive pest management practices using cognitive and collective mapping under a socio-ecological system framework.