Sustainability

La Finca de Hamberto is a small community farm in Vieques, Puerto Rico. Vieques qualifies as a rural and remote community, importing 99% of food and consumer goods. We recognize the burden farms may place on community resources and the risk associated with relying on optimal supply chain function. As a result, we are committed to achieving the highest level of sustainability and renewability possible. Our successes and active projects are listed below.

Renewable Energy: Vieques, Puerto Rico experiences frequent power outages and high energy burden. For us, this means there is a high risk associated with storing our produce in refrigerators and freezers. Over the past few years, we have added a small solar powered fridge to guarantee product quality during short-term power fluctuations. In 2024, we are aiming to grow this feature of our farm to multiple chest freezers and refrigerators powered 100% by solar and hydrogen power.

Circular Economy: We incorporate as many aspects of circular economy as possible on the farm and in the community. All parts of farm production are interconnected and each strengthens the others. Our food scraps and garden scraps are fed to our animals and our animals provide nutrient rich manure in return. A couple of our favorite programs are the food scrap collection program, processing facility, and on-farm composting project. We follow the EPA guidelines for food waste reduction, converting hundreds of pounds of discarded food into warm meals for the community, value-added food products, and shelf stable canned goods.

Pollinator Friendly: We love our pollinator friends! It always makes us happy to see the bees and butterflies busily pollinating our crops, knowing we will soon have a bountiful harvest.