Women Who Inspire - Part 1

Growing local food systems is one way in which territories can address vulnerabilities caused by importing food. (ANNIKA MCFARLANE/GETTY IMAGES)

By Amanda Hernandez,  Office Manager, HHI

This Women’s History Month, we asked employees at HHI to write about women who inspire them. Amanda Hernandez kicks off this week with an article on Crystal Diaz:

As a Puerto Rican woman and farmer, I have a passion for food sovereignty and Puerto Rico’s independence. It may be naive, but I believe a food-sovereign Puerto Rico can be an independent Puerto Rico. In honor of Women’s History Month, I want to highlight a woman who is doing the work to strengthen the local food system on the island. Her name is Crystal Díaz, and she created an app that connects local farmers to restaurants and other consumers. Below is an excerpt from an article published by 19th News, an independent nonprofit, titled “Meet the Women Working to Grow Local Food Systems on U.S. Island Territories.”

“In Puerto Rico, Crystal Díaz has taken a similar approach, looking for ways to strengthen and support local food production by connecting farmers with consumers. The devastation wrought by Hurricane María in 2017 illustrated the need to bolster the local food systems. The main port that sends food to Puerto Rico is in Florida, and it, too, was damaged by the storm. “Hurricane Maria was a slap in the face for everybody,” said Díaz, who recently spoke on a forum with Brown about food sovereignty on U.S. territories. It was then that many people realized the extent of their reliance on boats to bring in food. “Supermarkets started to have their aisles empty. That was a wakeup call for a lot of people,” she said. Through an app, she co-founded in 2018 called PRoduce, restaurants, and residents are now able to order local produce directly from small farmers on the island. So far, the app has been able to link 400 producers with over 70,000 consumers. She sees food security as one way to build resiliency against future storms and says the type of agricultural practices farmers utilize will be important too. “We need to do it in a resilient, sustainable way, using soil conservation practices, agroecology, and sustainable farming practices that then allow us to be resilient towards climate change,” she said. “Hurricanes are going to continue to hit the island, and they are going to get stronger, apparently, because of climate change.”