REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED URBAN SOILS FOR VEGETABLE PRODUCTION IN TROPICAL REGIONS

Goal/objectivesOur goal is to provide strategies and fill information gaps to protect the urban Puerto Rican communities from food shortage during and after hurricanes through the facilitation of urban garden development. We aim to promote urban agriculture through educational resources on strategies to mitigate exposure to soil contamination and conduct research to determine soil contamination in urban soils in Puerto Rico. Revitalizing urban farming in Puerto Rico by rehabilitating contaminated soils is a crucial first step on the path toward increasing food security in countries with high density populations and negative net imports like Puerto Rico. Urban farming not only boosts sustainable food production in Puerto Rico, but also has a positive socio-economic effect in the form of community involvement, urban gardener training, and addresses equity issues in marginalized communities.In addition to rehabilitating urban soils, the reuse of solid organic wastes in the form of biochar conserves the embodied energy and supports sustainable food production, which is vital for sustainability of Puerto Rico's economy and import independence (McLellan et al. 2018). In fact, based on the recent emergy analysis of Puerto Rico, system sustainability has declined by 84% over the last 54 years since the agricultural-based economy began shifting to industrial manufacturing (González-Mejía and Ma 2017). As a result of the substantial decline in land use for agriculture, the island has become dependent on imported food with only 15% of food produced in Puerto Rico. Decreased production in combination with continual loss of productive farmland due to land degradation and soil erosion has raised concerns for food security on the island with nearly 40% of the population in Puerto Rico participating in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as compared to ~10% of mainlanders according to USDA.ApproachWe aim to improve food security after extreme weather events in Puerto Rico by promoting urban agriculture through educational resources and conducting research to mitigate exposure to soil contaminants in urban soils. Ourhypothesisis that agronomic use of biochar will provide a critical and accessible solution for rehabilitation of impacted soils.Three specific objectives will be addressed in the presented study:Objective 1: Promote home/community gardens and small scale agriculture in urban settings through creation of information hub and trainingsObjective 2: Develop safe farming practices based on contaminant mitigation studiesObjective 3: Rate the capacity of biochar for contaminated soil rehabilitation