Puerto Rico Tourism Co. Certifies Agricultural Farm Tours

Although Puerto Rico’s leisure tourism profile is frequently dominated by historic Old San Juan and the sophisticated, urban Condado district, the island features numerous natural attractions. The Puerto Rico Tourism Co. (PRTC) is seeking to turn the country’s lush mountain peaks into tourism gold through a recently announced tourism program that supports local agricultural producers.

PRTC recently awarded the Hacienda Tres Ángeles farm, located in Adjuntas in Puerto Rico’s central mountain range, with the PRTC’s first agricultural program certification.

Founded by Puerto Rico entrepreneur Juan Meléndez with an investment of $516,192, including $242,435 from the Puerto Rico’s Department of Agriculture, the 100-acre coffee, plantain and orange farm successfully exports coffee to the United States and Europe. The farm also supplies produce to the local market.

Visitors can tour the facility for interactive demonstrations of the coffee-making process and learn about growing methods and practices, as well as the economy behind coffee, bean selection and the history of coffee cultivation. The facility is described as “the most modern ecological coffee mill in Puerto Rico.”

Beyond providing visitors with opportunities to learn about Puerto Rico’s farming culture, the program is also designed to improve Puerto Rico farmers’ social and economic sustainability.

Prior to launching the program, PRTC formed an agricultural advisory council of 13 organizations, including government agencies and agricultural and hospitality schools, to establish an “agricultural tourism guide.” PRTC used the guide to evaluate new and existing agricultural tourism projects worthy of support.

“With the start of this program, we strengthen our commitment to stimulate the development of tourism niches based on particular elements of our Island, such as our produce and the work of our people,” said Ingrid I. Rivera Rocafort, PRTC’s executive director. “Both are the pillars of agricultural tourism and impact the economic and social sustainability of farmers, the local tourism industry and the economic development of the Island as a whole."

PRTC will certify three additional plantations before the end of 2014 under the program: Café Nativo ( in the Jayuya district), Finca Lucero (in Ponce) and Finca El Remanso (Yauco).

Beyond expanding the country’s options for tourists and providing employment for local residents, the program has the added goal revitalizing Puerto Rico’s coffee industry by increasing its local coffee production, said Dr. Myrna Comas, Puerto Rico’s agriculture secretary.

“The Department of Agriculture has provided several incentives and has signed cooperation contracts with coffee nurseries to enable the production of 16 million coffee trees,” said Comas. “The infrastructure design of this beautiful plantation houses an ecological operation that clearly demonstrates the effort of a family dedicated to the land.”