PUERTO RICO | MONEY / BUSINESS. Puerto Rico Imports Most of Its Food. What Could the Island Actually Grow for Itself?

A new economic study suggests Puerto Rico could replace more imported produce than many people might assume, and local farmers can already compete on price in dozens of crops.

By BDZ News Desk

September 19, 2026

Walk through a supermarket in Puerto Rico, and much of what fills the shelves has already traveled a long way before reaching the checkout line.

For decades, Puerto Rico has depended heavily on food brought in from outside the island. USDA researchers estimated that in 2017 local agriculture produced roughly 15% of Puerto Rico's food needs, leaving about 85% supplied through imports. More recent research using 2022 trade data found that more than 75% of food consumption came from abroad, with food imports valued at approximately $4.6 billion that year.

That dependence raises an obvious question:

How much more of Puerto Rico's food could actually be grown in Puerto Rico?

New research suggests the answer may be more than many people realize.

30 Crops Where Puerto Rico Can Compete

Researchers examined 74 agricultural products that Puerto Rico's climate can support and compared prices throughout the food supply chain using 2023 data.

They found Puerto Rican farmers had prices below the cost of imports for 30 products at the farm level.

The list includes foods already familiar to Puerto Rican kitchens:

Plantains. Bananas. Peppers. Eggplant. Ginger. Corn. Watermelon. Tomatoes. Taro.

It also includes products such as basil, zucchini, cauliflower, asparagus, radishes, guava, grapefruit, mushrooms, and several herbs.

That's significant because one of the easiest assumptions about local agriculture is that imported food will always be cheaper.

The research suggests that's simply not true across the board.

At the household-market level, researchers found local producers could potentially substitute imports for products including avocado, sweet pepper, basil, sweet potato, eggplant, cilantro, bananas, green bananas, ginger, cabbage, corn, mango, peppers, plantains, watermelon and tomatoes.

For restaurants and other food-service buyers, locally produced items were competitive in 22 categories under the study's primary assumptions.

That doesn't mean Puerto Rico can simply stop importing food tomorrow.

It does mean the conversation is more complicated than “Puerto Rico has to import because producing locally costs too much.”

For some foods, Puerto Rican farmers may already have a competitive product.

The bigger challenge is producing enough of it, consistently, and getting it from the farm to the people who will buy it.

Puerto Rico Already Knows How to Grow Food

Puerto Rico has a long agricultural history.

The USDA's 2022 Census of Agriculture documents production ranging from coffee and pineapples to plantains, bananas, pigeon peas, beans, cassava, sweet potatoes, ginger, yams and yautía.

And agriculture has been recovering from a devastating period.

Hurricanes Irma and Maria inflicted enormous damage on Puerto Rico's agricultural sector in 2017. Between 2012 and 2018, the number of farms growing crops fell from 9,367 to 3,877, according to USDA data.

But by 2022, signs of recovery were visible.

Total crop sales reached $353 million, up 46% from 2018. Coffee sales increased from $4.8 million to $18.1 million. Fruit and coconut sales increased nearly 168%, while banana and plantain sales increased 58%.

Puerto Rican agriculture isn't dead.

But it remains relatively small compared with the amount of food Puerto Rico consumes.

Some Foods Are Already More Local Than Others

Another recent study offers an important look at where Puerto Rico is already relatively self-reliant.

Researchers analyzing production and food availability from fiscal years 2017 through 2019 estimated agricultural self-reliance at approximately 95% for dairy, 47% for fruits and 33% for vegetables during the period studied.

Once processed foods were included, however, overall food self-reliance was considerably lower.

That distinction matters.

Puerto Rico doesn't need to grow everything it eats for local agriculture to make a meaningful difference.

Increasing production in categories where the climate, land, farmers and economics already make sense could reduce dependence on imports without pursuing the unrealistic goal of complete food independence.

And there is another reason that matters.

An Island Has a Different Kind of Food Problem

When most of your food comes from somewhere else, the food system depends on more than farmers.

It depends on ships.

Ports.

Fuel.

Warehouses.

Trucks.

Electricity.

Weather.

And supply chains stretching hundreds or thousands of miles.

Puerto Rico has repeatedly experienced how vulnerable those systems can become when major hurricanes disrupt transportation, electricity and agriculture simultaneously. USDA research found that Hurricanes Irma and Maria not only destroyed crops and infrastructure but also contributed to farmworker losses that complicated the agricultural sector's recovery.

Growing more food locally wouldn't eliminate that vulnerability. Puerto Rican farms are themselves exposed to hurricanes, droughts, water disruptions and other extreme conditions.

In fact, current reporting from the island shows farmers are again dealing with drought and water-service concerns that could threaten production if conditions persist.

So replacing imports isn't simply a matter of planting more acres.

Puerto Rico would need an agricultural system capable of surviving the conditions Puerto Rico actually faces.

This Is Also a Business Story

There's another side to this conversation that can get lost when food security is discussed only as public policy.

Someone has to grow the food.

And that means agriculture has to work as a business.

Farmers need labor, equipment, financing, water, transportation, buyers and enough predictable revenue to justify increasing production.

Puerto Rico's Department of Agriculture says its current efforts include incentives designed to increase production, support value-added agriculture and connect agricultural businesses with buyers.

Current Puerto Rican reporting also points to efforts around agricultural entrepreneurship, local egg purchasing, food processing and programs designed to turn agricultural production into scalable businesses.

hat may ultimately be as important as deciding what can grow.

A farmer can produce an excellent local tomato.

But if a supermarket can't reliably buy the volume it needs, at the time it needs it, at a competitive price, the imported tomato may still win.

Food independence isn't created only in the soil.

It's created throughout the supply chain.

So, Could Puerto Rico Feed Itself?

Not entirely, at least not based on the available evidence.

And that may be the wrong question.

A more useful question is:

How much of what Puerto Rico currently imports could reasonably be replaced with food grown by Puerto Rican farmers?

The latest research provides a much more encouraging answer.

Puerto Rico has dozens of crops that its climate can support and for which local farmers can potentially compete economically with imported products.

That doesn't mean imports disappear.

It means Puerto Rico could potentially create a food system in which imported products complement local agriculture instead of overwhelmingly replacing it.

More plantains grown in Puerto Rico.

More peppers. More bananas. More tomatoes.

More root vegetables. More fruit.

More opportunities for farmers and agricultural businesses.

And potentially, a little less dependence on a ship arriving with dinner.

That's not complete food independence.

But for an island that imports most of what it eats, it could be a meaningful start.