Puerto Rico

Program Overview

This program will take you to southeastern Puerto Rico, where you will explore the connection between farming, the environment, and social justice. Your days will be spent working on farms, collaborating with local students, and engaging with farmers who are at the forefront of Puerto Rico’s food sovereignty movement. Through each of these activities, you will discover how sustainable farming can strengthen both communities and ecosystems.

While based at two different farmstays, you will have the opportunity to work at Finca Caribe and Carite 3.0, where you will study agricultural techniques alongside Fernando Maldonado, a leader in Puerto Rico’s food sovereignty movement. You will also support conservation efforts at Las Casas de la Selva, a sustainable forestry project in the Patillas mountains. Additionally, you will engage with students at a local school, collaborating with them in their community garden while discovering how young people are becoming leaders in the island’s agricultural movement.

Outside of farm work, you will explore Puerto Rico’s rich culture through hands-on workshops, including cacao processing, medicinal plant use, salsa dancing, and environmental art creation. Through these experiences, you will see how traditional practices and community knowledge work together to strengthen communities.

This program is designed to help you understand the connections between healthy ecosystems and thriving communities while learning directly from community leaders. You will leave Puerto Rico with a new perspective on how environmental science and sustainable food systems can create positive change that benefits both people and the planet.

*Please note that programs are subject to change based on the health and safety of participants and our partners.