Notes From the Boricua Archive 1

Photo 1: Front cover of USDA publication "The Caribbean Forester" c. 1949

Today's #NotesFromtheBoricuaArchive comes from my time thinking about AfroIndigenous agricultural practices amidst United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) documentation. Today's quote comes from a banner hanging at D Town Farms the last time I visited in Waawiyaatanong/Detroit in August of 2025 :

                          There is no culture without agriculture. 

From 1939-to 1963 the USDA's Forest Service published the Caribbean Forester, a periodical focused on documenting and highlighting transnational land/forest management practices and research in the Caribbean. Articles, editing processes, and circulation of this periodical spanned a vast Caribbean geography from New Orleans to Columbian, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. The periodical was printed in English, Spanish, and French; evidence of transnational collaboration between the USDA and other parallel institutions throughout the Caribbean and Latin America.

After briefly reading through a few editions of the Caribbean Forester, I notice a few important things:

(1) A classic (settler)colonial archetype makes itself clear in the writing. In one particular article on the forestry practices of a Boricua named Angél Monserrate, a Euro-Western forester Frank H. Wadsworth, concerned with the concept of a pristine forest, is shocked to learn that human management (via Angél) is vital for healthy forests in Puerto Rico.

(2) So far in my reading traditional Taino and Afro/Black Puerto Rican forestry knowledge* is not explicitly mentioned. More documented (so far as I know) are traditional fishing methods and coastal conservation practices. Less documented are mountain practices, which this periodical seems to confirm.

(2a) Relatedly, I am currently researching Angél Monserrate's heritage. And, as it relates to my dissertation, planning to research the heritage of any other Boricuas listed as co-authors or as "interview subjects" in the periodical.

(3) So far, the forestry science I've come across in this article serves as a great example of mainstream forestry, ecology, agriculture and the priorities of their research. For example, they continue to take care of a great deal about annual precipitation rates.

Photo 2: There is a caption included in with the publication's photo which reads "Fig. 1. - A typical parcel at Toro Negro, showing government-owned house and recently planted banana plants. (Una parcela típoca en Toro Negro, mostrando la casa propriedad del gobierno y los banaos recientemente plantados).

(4) There are some good bits of political history tucked away in conversations about how certain policies shaped resources available for agricultural workers in the mid-20th century. For example, the caption of Photo 2 illustrates the government funded farming programs described in the periodical's text.

I am excited to read more.

Some questions I have moving forward:

Who is Angél Monserrate? Who is the "worker" photographed in the article about Angél. How often did the USDS rent farms? What were the terms of those rentals? Where were those rentals primarily located? Who were the families who farmed on the rented land? Where are these families now? What is the land doing now? What did that land witness? Can we test the soil health of those rentals?

*For my family, I'm calling it practices of Mountain Maldonados)