WEBVTT 00:00:00.090 --> 00:00:04.077 Hello everyone today. I'll be presenting my master of Sustainability 00:00:04.110 --> 00:00:08.445 Solutionss culminating experience project on increasing socio-economic 00:00:08.478 --> 00:00:13.536 resilience of Utuado farmers through agritourism. My name is HOA and 00:00:13.569 --> 00:00:16.977 here's a list of my project partners without which this project would have 00:00:17.010 --> 00:00:19.477 not been possible. 00:00:19.510 --> 00:00:23.776 Bottu Puerto Rico is a region that has witnessed many natural hazards and 00:00:23.809 --> 00:00:28.067 most notably of which is hurricane Maria that hit the island in 2017 and 00:00:28.100 --> 00:00:32.585 irrevocably altered its landscape to this day. But what causes certain 00:00:32.618 --> 00:00:37.847 groups of people and not others to experience natural hazards as disasters. 00:00:37.880 --> 00:00:42.036 This is the level of vulnerability that a group of people has to major 00:00:42.069 --> 00:00:47.366 impacts in Utuado. This looks like a lack of livelihood opportunity, a 00:00:47.399 --> 00:00:51.237 large proportion of citizens living below the poverty line. A lack of 00:00:51.270 --> 00:00:55.356 access to basic necessities and high quality food, increasing farm 00:00:55.389 --> 00:00:59.835 abandonment and out migration and a high level of dependence on imported 00:00:59.868 --> 00:01:04.305 food. Not to mention inadequate government support and histories of 00:01:04.338 --> 00:01:07.096 political injustices. 00:01:07.129 --> 00:01:11.796 However, this disaster has also opened up a window for citizens to rise up 00:01:11.829 --> 00:01:15.525 and self organize for the building back better of their shared communities 00:01:15.558 --> 00:01:20.036 and spaces in the agricultural sector. This is manifested as a drive 00:01:20.069 --> 00:01:23.596 towards a stronger regional economy and the building of food sovereignty 00:01:23.629 --> 00:01:27.805 through agritourism. In Utuado, agritourism is an emerging economic 00:01:27.838 --> 00:01:32.801 activity that combines agroecological methods and tourism for diversified 00:01:32.834 --> 00:01:36.790 livelihood, potential, sustainable practices, cultural preservation and 00:01:36.823 --> 00:01:40.951 appreciation and smaller scale food sovereignty displayed. Here are an 00:01:40.984 --> 00:01:44.751 array of exemplary agritourism, farms and enterprises around Puerto Rico 00:01:44.784 --> 00:01:48.355 and in the US, which I will mention again later based on the 00:01:48.388 --> 00:01:52.426 transformative potential of agritourism for the utuado community in terms 00:01:52.459 --> 00:01:56.665 of positive public health outcomes, social and environmental resilience 00:01:56.698 --> 00:02:01.007 and disaster risk reduction. Local utuado farmers could benefit from 00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:04.525 increased agritourism knowledge dissemination and practice with the 00:02:04.558 --> 00:02:08.485 building of a stronger regional economy. 00:02:08.518 --> 00:02:12.765 In order to support this movement, my project involves three major parts 00:02:12.798 --> 00:02:17.636 in part one, I identified regional sustainability solutions which involve 00:02:17.669 --> 00:02:21.856 developing surveys for preliminary data collection on key actions, tools 00:02:21.889 --> 00:02:25.916 and resources for farm success. Creating a list of criteria for the 00:02:25.949 --> 00:02:30.275 identification of sustainable farms and enterprises and conducting 00:02:30.308 --> 00:02:33.995 background research on those identified regional sustainable farms and 00:02:34.028 --> 00:02:39.495 enterprises. In part two, I reconstructed transition pathways to success. 00:02:39.528 --> 00:02:44.077 A regional sustainable farms and enterprises which involved developing 00:02:44.110 --> 00:02:48.866 interview guides for a more detailed follow up of a few exemplary farms 00:02:48.899 --> 00:02:53.066 reconstructing transition pathways based on the information collected so 00:02:53.099 --> 00:02:57.346 far and creating a list of criteria for the successful transition or 00:02:57.379 --> 00:03:01.335 development of a farmer enterprise. In part three, I developed an 00:03:01.368 --> 00:03:05.096 educational program to support other farmers in learning from this 00:03:05.129 --> 00:03:09.316 experience, which involves identifying the pertinent theory of change, 00:03:09.349 --> 00:03:13.816 focal risk factors as well as program scope and stakeholders and 00:03:13.849 --> 00:03:17.975 developing a program addressing main elements and indicators, pilot 00:03:18.008 --> 00:03:21.136 programming measures and training and implementation based on 00:03:21.169 --> 00:03:27.036 reconstructed pathways to success. In part one, I first delineated a 00:03:27.069 --> 00:03:31.626 method to identify regional sustainability solutions. The criteria for 00:03:31.659 --> 00:03:35.646 farm sustainability that you can see here is adapted from the framework 00:03:35.679 --> 00:03:39.916 for analyzing assessing and improving enterprises towards sustainability 00:03:39.949 --> 00:03:44.596 as developed by Dr Week and Dr Basil in 2020 the principles for a 00:03:44.629 --> 00:03:50.406 sustainable local food economy as developed by Dr Week in 2020 and the 00:03:50.439 --> 00:03:55.327 weak enforced 2021 solutions template. The final set of criteria for 00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:58.927 agritourism integrity was developed from the University of Vermont and 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:03.957 Virginia co-operative Extension definitions of agritourism. In this 00:04:03.990 --> 00:04:07.636 project, a total of 10 identified exemplary enterprises have been assessed 00:04:07.669 --> 00:04:11.186 by this list of criteria. Research points to the fact that 00:04:11.219 --> 00:04:15.286 self-organization is a powerful tool for building community resilience. 00:04:15.319 --> 00:04:19.067 And in Utuado communities, this has converged around the building of food 00:04:19.100 --> 00:04:22.346 sovereignty for its transformational potential in addressing food 00:04:22.379 --> 00:04:26.036 insecurity and the need for increased access to healthy and high quality 00:04:26.069 --> 00:04:29.825 food. I highlight a few of these exemplary, sustainable farms and 00:04:29.858 --> 00:04:34.687 enterprises in the region of Utuado like the one we see here, Finca Amaar 00:04:34.720 --> 00:04:38.645 and in other regions nationally as well. And I present them using the 00:04:38.678 --> 00:04:42.015 criteria for farm sustainability in order to better understand their 00:04:42.048 --> 00:04:46.387 sustainability features, their contributions to the regional economy and 00:04:46.420 --> 00:04:49.656 by extension their areas potential improvement. You'll notice that 00:04:49.689 --> 00:04:53.205 information gaps or areas of potential improvement are indicated in 00:04:53.238 --> 00:04:58.317 italics in creating an inventory of exemplary farm and enterprise features 00:04:58.350 --> 00:05:01.616 locally and in viewing the strengths of different enterprises. In 00:05:01.649 --> 00:05:05.447 conjunction, we're able to begin the first step for the transfer of 00:05:05.480 --> 00:05:09.145 sustainability solutions to other up and coming farms and enterprises in 00:05:09.178 --> 00:05:11.967 the region. 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:15.026 The exemplary farms that I have studied in depth profiled using the 00:05:15.059 --> 00:05:18.546 criteria for farm sustainability and analyzed through pathway transition 00:05:18.579 --> 00:05:23.836 reconstruction are Amaad Instituto de Perma, Cultura de Puerto Rico and 00:05:23.869 --> 00:05:28.257 Planit Air. The first two exemplary enterprises were selected by virtue of 00:05:28.290 --> 00:05:31.395 being participants of the ser project. And the third was selected by 00:05:31.428 --> 00:05:34.947 virtue of being the most exemplary of the exemplary cases profiled. 00:05:34.980 --> 00:05:40.236 Earlier here you can see the reconstructed transition pathway of FINCA 00:05:40.269 --> 00:05:43.986 Amaar. The rectangular bubbles indicate specific actions while the 00:05:44.019 --> 00:05:48.116 diamonds indicate output, the small bubbles that you see indicate actor 00:05:48.149 --> 00:05:52.887 types while the small triangles indicate barriers. As we can see in this 00:05:52.920 --> 00:05:57.995 case, networking played a major role in the success of Finka Maar the 00:05:58.028 --> 00:06:01.736 Forest. And week 2014 framework for pathway transition reconstruction is a 00:06:01.769 --> 00:06:05.265 highly valuable tool to be able to create a basis for the transferring of 00:06:05.298 --> 00:06:09.687 these evidence based critical success factors to other enterprises. Part 00:06:09.720 --> 00:06:12.955 three of my project involved the development of a place specific 00:06:12.988 --> 00:06:16.676 agritourism educational program when it comes to the most successful 00:06:16.709 --> 00:06:19.947 models of farmer learning. Research shows that farmers tend to value 00:06:19.980 --> 00:06:23.717 social learning or peer to peer learning the most as compared with 00:06:23.750 --> 00:06:27.916 individual or institutional learning. And social learning also allows for 00:06:27.949 --> 00:06:31.356 greater participation by women and by other marginalized groups of the 00:06:31.389 --> 00:06:35.916 population as well. In fact, this type of learning also presents an 00:06:35.949 --> 00:06:39.555 opportunity for a good balance between placing due value on local 00:06:39.588 --> 00:06:43.697 traditional or experiential knowledge while allowing for collaboration 00:06:43.730 --> 00:06:48.305 with researchers in participatory research programs. As in the example of 00:06:48.338 --> 00:06:52.757 the University of California Agroecological Program. It's on this basis 00:06:52.790 --> 00:06:56.877 that I developed the farmer learning community as detailed here with two 00:06:56.910 --> 00:07:01.137 of the 12 weeks that you can see on this slide. The main concept of this 00:07:01.170 --> 00:07:04.937 participatory program is to provide opportunities for aspiring farmers to 00:07:04.970 --> 00:07:09.116 visit a different agritourism farmer enterprise site each week where they 00:07:09.149 --> 00:07:12.697 can observe and experience firsthand the best practices of the farm while 00:07:12.730 --> 00:07:17.507 building their network as they go along. The intended outcomes for this 00:07:17.540 --> 00:07:21.955 project included increased socio-economic development and livelihood 00:07:21.988 --> 00:07:25.697 opportunity, increased resilience through farm and visitor readiness for 00:07:25.730 --> 00:07:30.067 less developed farms, increased engagement in education on and resource 00:07:30.100 --> 00:07:34.305 sharing. With regards to agroecological farming practices and increased 00:07:34.338 --> 00:07:37.637 social integration between regional farmers in contribution to greater 00:07:37.670 --> 00:07:41.217 resilience in a strong regional economy 00:07:41.250 --> 00:07:44.765 based on my different project deliverables. Thus far, I've received the 00:07:44.798 --> 00:07:48.145 following feedback. In part one of the project I worked in close 00:07:48.178 --> 00:07:53.245 collaboration with our project partner from PTC Nilda Loin Gonzalez to 00:07:53.278 --> 00:07:56.546 identify contact and collect information from exemplary farms and 00:07:56.579 --> 00:08:00.825 enterprises throughout Puerto Rico, MS Gonzalez reviewed the criteria for 00:08:00.858 --> 00:08:05.075 farm sustainability and in doing so revealed that the list of criteria can 00:08:05.108 --> 00:08:08.717 be a powerful tool to gain a more holistic understanding of important 00:08:08.750 --> 00:08:13.096 information on enterprises that has not been previously considered. This 00:08:13.129 --> 00:08:16.276 kind of information can help create connections and add support for 00:08:16.309 --> 00:08:20.187 sustainable enterprises as by professionals like MS Gonzalez in their 00:08:20.220 --> 00:08:24.346 networking roles. In part two of the project involving the reconstruction 00:08:24.379 --> 00:08:28.856 of transition pathways, Dr Katia B provided valuable feedback on the 00:08:28.889 --> 00:08:32.226 utility of this tool for increasing the understanding of regional economy 00:08:32.259 --> 00:08:35.956 players, their interconnections and functions among the communities and 00:08:35.989 --> 00:08:40.736 farmers. In part three of the project involving the training program, Dr 00:08:40.769 --> 00:08:43.917 Lisa Chase, Professor at the University of Vermont and Director of the 00:08:43.950 --> 00:08:47.717 Vermont Tourism Research Center, commended the training program for its 00:08:47.750 --> 00:08:51.226 farmer to farmer learning approach, its place based nature and its 00:08:51.259 --> 00:08:55.226 sustainability framing. While it's too early in the project to determine 00:08:55.259 --> 00:08:58.706 its specific outcomes, these interactions with project partners and 00:08:58.739 --> 00:09:02.726 subject matter, experts point to the promising nature of this project once 00:09:02.759 --> 00:09:07.717 piloted. What made this project most fulfilling for me was the opportunity 00:09:07.750 --> 00:09:11.116 to put into practice much of what I've learned over the semesters in my 00:09:11.149 --> 00:09:15.986 MSs program such as sustainability problem identification from the 00:09:16.019 --> 00:09:20.226 advanced sustainability problem solving course with Dr Week transitions, 00:09:20.259 --> 00:09:23.696 pathway reconstruction from the disasters as opportunities course with Dr 00:09:23.729 --> 00:09:27.836 Brander's regional economy, framing and training best practices from the 00:09:27.869 --> 00:09:32.467 sustainable food economy course with Dr Week and the TSC criteria from the 00:09:32.500 --> 00:09:36.265 transformational sustainability enterprise course with Dr Week and Dr 00:09:36.298 --> 00:09:40.576 Basil. Two of the original main components of my project were current 00:09:40.609 --> 00:09:45.015 state surveys for regional farmers and in depth interview guides for more 00:09:45.048 --> 00:09:49.586 detailed pathway reconstruction. However, due to COVID related delays with 00:09:49.619 --> 00:09:53.866 our project partner IRB Institution, it took a period of around two months 00:09:53.899 --> 00:09:57.375 to receive an initial response for amendments which have recently been 00:09:57.408 --> 00:10:02.047 submitted opportunities for improvement in this regard include making IRB 00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:06.047 submissions the first project item with later amendments allowing for 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:10.515 project details to be filled in as the project progresses. 00:10:10.548 --> 00:10:14.066 A combination of my own short term continued work on this project for the 00:10:14.099 --> 00:10:17.866 completion of surveying and interviewing as well as future MS student 00:10:17.899 --> 00:10:21.755 continuation can yield the following next steps. Firstly, the 00:10:21.788 --> 00:10:25.706 operationalization and delivery of developed surveys and interviews upon 00:10:25.739 --> 00:10:30.145 receiving RV approval. Second, the expanding of the pool of exemplary 00:10:30.178 --> 00:10:34.566 enterprises for which to reconstruct transition pathways. And third, the 00:10:34.599 --> 00:10:39.346 piloting of the developed training program with Dr Bib upon completion to 00:10:39.379 --> 00:10:44.427 better inform the later program implementation phase. Thank you all for 00:10:44.460 --> 00:10:48.509 taking the time to listen to my presentation today.