The Southern region of the Farm and Ranch Assistance Network (FRSAN) includes 13 southern states as well as the territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Puerto Rico has a population of 3.22 million people with 7,602 farms on the island, according to the 2022 Puerto Rico Census of Agriculture, which is the most recent data available. The U.S. Virgin Islands, comprised of the primary islands of St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas as well as several smaller islands, has a population of 105,413 with 565 farms (2018 USVI Census—also the most recent data).
U.S. Virgin Islands
The U.S. Virgin Islands Dept of Agriculture (VIDA) was awarded farm stress funding known as a state expansion grant. They elected to subaward a portion of their grant funds to SAgE to ensure the VI project integrated seamlessly with regional efforts.
Puerto Rico
In Puerto Rico, SAgE has partnered with Miguel Marxuach, executive director of Alianza por Agricultura/Alliance for Agriculture, and lead researcher Dr. Natasha Sagardia Beltran of the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras campus. The work in Puerto Rico has focused on a rural community school called CampoSofia that serves around 30 families in the Utuado region.
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