When Hurricanes Maria and Irma hit Puerto Rico in 2017, they destroyed the island’s fragile food system. Farms of all sizes were battered, with around 80 percent of the island's crop value wiped out.

But a group of Puerto Rican farmers practicing an old way of farming, called agroecology, saw their operations bounce back much faster than conventional farms. What does their experience tell us about how to build and protect food systems in a rapidly warming world?

Producer Dalvin Aboagye brings us a story about a collective known as Guakia in Puerto Rico working to clean up the food system as a part of a larger worldwide movement to adapt farms to local ecosystems.

We’ll also talk to an expert about how agroecology works as a climate solution. At scale, agroecology could help us shrink the 24 percent share of global emissions attributed to food, agriculture, and land use. And it's an important line of defense in protecting our ability to feed people as extreme weather makes food systems more vulnerable.

Resources:

Puerto Rico’s agroecology revolution after Maria
Agroecology’s impact on European emissions

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A Matter of Degrees is a production of Post Script Audio. For more episodes and transcripts, visit our website.

A Farming Solution for a Hotter, Less Stable World 42:29 Share

A Matter of Degrees

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A Farming Solution for a Hotter, Less Stable World