Monte Azul: inspiring young people with sustainable agriculture

Nearly 90% of the food consumed by Puerto Ricans comes from countries such as the United States, Costa Rica, and Ecuador, among others. This is primarily due to the low agricultural production on the island.

However, "Puerto Rico has the benefit of having many different microclimates, and we are looking to develop "food hubs" by region to impact the different areas in Puerto Rico," said Andrew Hermann, executive director of the Monte Azul Foundation.

Hermann is a native of Ohio and settled in Puerto Rico in February 2018. "After Maria hit Puerto Rico, there was a movement to get back to planting. Before that, I worked with coffee farmers in the Dominican Republic, helping them diversify their crops. I was very interested in working with young people and encouraging them to enter the agricultural industry. So, I came to the island to create an organization with that vision," said the young man, who has experience in social entrepreneurship, sales, proposal writing, and nonprofit management.

Since its founding in 2018, Monte Azul has impacted more than 80 farmers in 13 municipalities around the island. "Our desire is to work by region with demonstration projects. In Yabucoa, our headquarters, we have the largest project, which is hydroponic of eight thousand plants. There we also have the Sustainable Agriculture and Innovation Academy program, which has four steps explained in the Agricultural Entrepreneurship 101 course. Then we have an eight-month mentoring program. After that, they go to an eight-month incubation stage and, finally, an acceleration program," said Hermann. In addition, the organization has a shade coffee and cocoa planting project in Maricao.

ConPRmetidos is currently supporting Monte Azul with a grant of $20,000. This grant will cover three cohorts of their Agricultural Entrepreneurship 101 course that will train 75 farmers.

Monte Azul is also interested in developing aquaponics projects. Recently, the team was in Colombia taking workshops on fish and shrimp production.

According to Hermann, "we [Monte Azul] see agriculture as a form of economic development for the country, which can be the backbone or the foundation of the island's economic growth. Every dollar you invest in a local product generates seven in the local economy. This is substantial because increasing local food production by 15% more will cause many jobs. That will change the future of rural communities in Puerto Rico, which face more daily obstacles”.

For this reason, through their programs, his interest is to motivate and help young people to become agri-entrepreneurs. “The average age of farmers is 60.8 years old. We must work with the young people who are leaving Puerto Rico in search of better opportunities. We must teach them that with agriculture, there is a future here in the island and that they can stay here to stop their agribusiness.”