Biodiversity is Life

Puerto Rico currently produces 18% of the food it consumes. But it is important to remember that by 1943, out of a total of 2.88 million pounds of food to supply local consumption, 1.81 million pounds (62.84%) were produced in Puerto Rico. From 1950 until today, several circumstances have influenced to cause the downward curve of our agricultural production and development:

• The physical isolation of Puerto Rican families regarding their food resources
• The abandonment of sensitive agricultural policies 
• The fragility of our sovereign powers to regulate importation and to introduce new seeds
• The institutional indifference regarding the undeniable relationship between food and life
• The disastrous results that Hurricane Maria caused on the already low agricultural production

In terms of production, everything is viable in Puerto Rico because of the diversity of soils and aquatic resources. And, nevertheless because of the will and interest that show various nonprofit institutions, small agro community companies, and agroecological farmers.

Oriundo takes as its starting point an ethical conscience about food: Biodiversity is life. 

Based on this principle, the link between producers and consumers, technological innovation, the transfer of analysis and interpretation models to producers, and education to consumers, are considered as important and primary goals. 

Likewise, Oriundo proposes to create a dynamic interface in which diverse actors converge with multiple wisdoms to add value to what we used to eat, to what we currently eat, and everything edible that can occur in our natural environment in a sustainable and responsible way.

- Cruz Miguel Ortíz