Project Overview
Commodities
Practices
Proposal abstract:
|
This two-year professional-development project, led by Dr. Carol Ramos Gerena from the Graduate School of Planning at the University of Puerto Rico (EGP-UPRRP), is implemented in collaboration with mentor farmer Marissa Reyes, the Puerto Rico Agricultural Extension Service (PRAES), and the Instituto para la Investigación y Acción en Agroecología de Puerto Rico (IALA-PR). It will strengthen participants' capacity to teach and apply farmland-protection strategies that support sustainable agriculture across Puerto Rico. The project will train extension faculty from across PRAES programs, agroecology mentor farmers, and representatives from community land trusts (CLTs) through four regional, one-day train-the-trainer workshops. These workshops will build on PLAN 6068 Farmland Protection course content and PRAES's 2015 land-use policy training materials. Participants will be convened through PRAES and IALA-PR networks. Workshops will integrate dynamic, participatory lectures, mapping exercises, and field-based learning, including two site visits coordinated by Marissa Reyes. The project will develop a Farmland Protection Training Toolkit, including a pocket guidebook, lesson plans, maps, and pre-post evaluation tools, produced in internet-ready formats for dissemination through IALA-PR and the Puerto Rico Agricultural Extension Service's Medios Educativos e Información (MEI) platforms. Participants will develop skills to interpret land-use policies-including the National Land Use Plan (PUT), Agricultural Reserves, the Joint Permit Regulation, the Puerto Rico Land Law, and proposed permitting reforms-and to apply collective land tenure strategies in extension and farmer-education programs. Evaluation will include pre/post assessments, participant reflections, and six-month follow-up interviews to measure changes in knowledge, confidence, and application of farmland-protection strategies in their practice. |
Project objectives from proposal:
The goal of this project is to strengthen the capacity of Puerto Rico's extension faculty and agroecology mentor farmers to teach, apply, and share farmland-protection strategies within an evolving land-use and permitting system, contributing to the long-term protection of agricultural lands across the archipelago.
To achieve this goal, the project pursues the following objectives:
Objective 1: Increase participants' knowledge of farmland-protection concepts and their significance
Participants will demonstrate increased understanding of key land-use and permitting concepts, their meaning, and implications, including the National Land Use Plan (Plan de Uso de Terrenos or PUT, currently under public review and for which many extension professionals have not received formal training since 2015), municipal land-use plans (Planes de Ordenación Territorial, or POT), current and newly proposed Agricultural Reserves (reservas agrícolas), land development codes (Reglamento Conjunto), land-access policies such as the Puerto Rico Land Law (Law No. 26 of April 12, 1941, as amended), and the recently proposed Puerto Rico Planning and Permitting Code (House Bill 1213, PC1213), introduced on April 8, 2026. Participants will identify and explain how these frameworks interact and influence farmland protection, land access, and agricultural land-use decisions.
Behavioral outcome: Participants will accurately describe how
regulatory tools and policy changes affect farmland protection and
land-use decisions in Puerto Rico.
Evaluation: Measured through pre- and post-workshop
assessments.
Objective 2: Strengthen participants' awareness of actionable farmland-protection strategies within a changing regulatory context
Participants will not only increase their understanding of what are the current land use policies and their changes, but they will also be able to identify strategies for action within the evolving land-use planning and permitting frameworks. Through dynamic, participatory lectures, and contextualized case-based discussions, mapping exercises, and reflection on their professional experiences working with farmers, they will strengthen their ability to identify opportunities for farmland protection within existing policies and permitting pathways, and to recognize strategies they can apply in their teaching.
Behavioral outcome: Participants will identify farmland-protection strategies tailored to their professional and regional contexts.
Evaluation: Assessed through workshop exercises, self-assessments, and reflection forms.
Objective 3: Increase participants' knowledge and use of alternative farmland access and acquisition strategies.
Participants will develop knowledge of and capacity to promote alternative farmland acquisition approaches, including shared ownership models such as community land trusts (CLTs) and land-access cooperatives. Through case-based discussions and examples from Puerto Rico, they will examine how these approaches complement regulatory frameworks and identify opportunities to apply them in their work.
Behavioral outcome: Participants will identify and propose
appropriate land-access and tenure strategies to support farmland
protection in their professional practice.
Evaluation: Measured through pre/post assessments,
self-assessments, and reflections.
Objective 4: Increase participants' capacity to teach and communicate farmland-protection strategies.
Participants will develop and demonstrate the ability to design and deliver training and advisory activities using the modular, bilingual materials of the Farmland Protection Training Toolkit. Through brief structured mock training exercises, participants will practice delivering content, receive feedback, and build confidence in teaching farmland-protection strategies.
Behavioral outcome: Participants will design and implement training or advisory activities and communicate farmland-protection strategies with clarity, accuracy, and relevance.
Evaluation: Assessed through structured peer and facilitator feedback, as well as pre- and post-training confidence self-assessments.
Objective 5: Increase participants' integration of farmland-protection strategies into professional practice.
Participants will integrate acquired farmland-protection knowledge and tools into their extension, advisory, and educational activities. Following each regional workshop, participants will be invited to attend regional-scale online implementation support sessions with topic experts. The session will address context-specific support for applying farmland-protection strategies. These sessions will provide space for participants to reflect on their experiences, address challenges, and receive guidance on applying strategies in their work.
Behavioral outcome: Participants will start to apply farmland-protection strategies in their work with farmers and communities and adapt these approaches to their specific professional and regional contexts.
Evaluation: Assessed through six-month follow-up interviews and participation in implementation support sessions.
Objective 6: Expand dissemination and use of farmland-protection resources.
Participants will use and share the bilingual Farmland Protection Training Toolkit, which includes pocket guidebook, lesson plans, power points, maps for participatory mapping exercises, and internet-ready resources to be used in their training and outreach activities. They will adapt these materials to local contexts and extend training to additional audiences.
Behavioral outcome: Participants will distribute, adapt, and use
toolkit materials to expand farmland-protection education to
additional farmers, extension faculty, and community partners.
Evaluation: Measured through six-month follow-up interviews and
participant reporting on dissemination activities. The team will
also measure website analytics from IALA-PR and PRAES's Medios
Educativos e Información (MEI) platforms.