Food and Resilience in Puerto Rico
This year’s students in subject 12.000 Solving Complex Problems were tasked with the following problem:
Puerto Rico experiences high levels of food insecurity, stemming from repeated natural disasters, a lack of resiliency in the power grid and distribution systems, and insufficient food production on the island due to industrialization. Your task is to design a system that will reduce food insecurity and improve long-term resiliency against natural disasters in farms and surrounding infrastructure by reimagining Puerto Rico with a prolific agricultural production network, a stable and consistent way of preserving food, and improved access to food through resilient transportation infrastructure in order to promote self-sufficiency (i.e. food sovereignty).
Students presented their proposal in a final website and in a presentation on December 3, 2025. The website is available for view at presentation can be viewed at terrascope2029@mit.edu and the presentation is available at https://web.mit.edu/webcast/terrascope2029/
The Terrascope Class of 2029 presented their findings and recommendations to a distinguished panel including:
- Senator Ada Álvarez Conde, Senator, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
- Dr. Tatiana Mendez Toro, Agricultural Extension Service and Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez
- Giuseppina Boatwright, Registered dietician, MIT Dining/Bon Appetit
- Crystal Diaz Rojas, Entrepreneur, Co-Founder PRoduce, Owner El Pretexto
- Patricia Crumley, Co-Owner Puerto Rico Agrotech, Geotechnical Engineer, MIT ’03 / ’04
- Pedro Nieves-Miranda, ESQ., Co-Owner Puerto Rico Agrotech, Environmental Lawyer