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101``````AH, PUERTO RICO! LAND OF rum and iguanas, palm treesand paddleboard yoga. I arrived in San Juan two days agowith every intention of reporting briskly and soberly onthe state of food and farming here since Hurricane Mariahit last September.But even the most sober reporter would be entrapped bythis island’s enchantments. Since touching down I have: drunka cocktail called the Tesla out of a lightbulb at the pert littleLa Coctelera (where the cocktails are quite performative:The Paper Plane is garnished with a folded airplane); eatendeep-fried fish fritters with mayo-ketchup—the island’spreferred sauce; sat with my feet in the sand reading aboutLolita Lebrón, the stylish Puerto Rican nationalist who, in1954, led an attack in which five U.S. representatives wereshot, shouting, “¡Viva Puerto Rico libre!” without oncerumpling her French-knotted scarf.This might all come across as frivolous given recent events,but in San Juan, at least, so much has been rebuilt in sevenmonths that it’s hard to find evidence of Maria’s devasta-tion—but for the occasional inoperative traffic light andthe blue pointillist dots of FEMA tarp roofs against thecomposed pastel city. Of course there is damage one can’tsee from bar stools or beaches, and I am en route to meet a34-year-old named Tara Rodríguez Besosa, cofounder ofthe Puerto Rico Resilience Fund—an effort to help rebuildthe island’s beleaguered farms. Rodríguez Besosa is theforce behind an emergent Puerto Rican food revolution,and my plan is to join one of her volunteer brigades tillingtopsoil at Huerto Semilla (“seed garden”), an agroecologicalstudent-run farm smack in the middle of San Juan, at theUniversity of Puerto Rico’s Río Piedras campus.When I arrive, the scene is a veritable hive of activity: youngfarmers, almost all women, bent over hoes, ferrying largebunches of holy basil or laying irrigation tape. RodríguezBesosa, whose pixie cut and thin limbs give her the appear-ance of a rangy Peter Pan, stands with a shovel by beds ofcilantro, mustard greens, and kale. She is physically striking,making a schools not prisons T-shirt, short black leggings,work boots, and dirt smudges look chic. The effect is partly``````due to her height—she is five feet ten—and her deep outdoortan, sparkling eyes, and constant smile. She shovels soilthrough a sieve, while directing admiring young volunteersand answering her constantly ringing phone: Here’s where todeliver lunch; this is what time the car should meet her in NewOrleans in two days; here’s where to send the next brigade.Restoring Puerto Rican agriculture is a complex andnovel project, since the island mostly stopped producing itsown food long ago. By a conservative estimate, Puerto Ricoimported at least 80 percent of what it consumed before thehurricane. The story of why in the briefest possible terms:Farming declined during Puerto Rico’s days as a Span-ish colony, when native agriculture ceded to large colonialplantations. Under U.S. administration, beginning after the1898 Spanish-American War, Puerto Rico was subjected toa combination of economic restructuring, industrialization,and the growing stigma of being perceived as a rural, peasantisland. Surviving farms grew profitable sugarcane, coffee,or, in rarer cases, plantains and other fruits. By the turn ofthe twenty-first century it was all but impossible to procureanything locally but a very limited set of crops.This does not perhaps sound so bad—until you considerthe high environmental costs of transporting the island’s food.And the poignant lesson of Maria, which destroyed 80 percentof Puerto Rico’s crops in addition to roads, homes, vehicles:that dependence on imports left Puerto Ricans uniquelysusceptible, in the face of a natural disaster, to starvation.“They say that during Maria, Puerto Rico only hadenough food for one week,” says Carmen Yulín Cruz, themayor of San Juan, who rose to international prominencefeuding with President Trump over aid. “I hate to say any-thing positive about Maria. But what the hurricane didwas force us to look at the realities of life here and how ourdependency on the outside weakens our ability to ensure``````HARVEST TIMEPuerto Rican farming was highly limited before thehurricane. Recovery efforts envision a more diversecrop. Detail of Papaya, by Ana Mercedes Hoyos.Hurricane Mariadestroyed mostof Puerto R ico’s farms,but thanks to a groupof young agriculturists,the island is growingagain—in better, morehealthful ways.Tamar Adler reports.#### Tropical#### SunriseANA MERCEDES HOYOS.PA PAYA ,1994. OIL ON CANVAS, 23.6ᥱ X 23.6ᥱ.