December 29th marked 100 days since Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico. Today, the island imports 95 percent of its food. As a major disaster aid package progresses—slowly—through Congress, it’s time to prioritize the island’s right to food security.

Carlos Flores Ortega, Puerto Rico’s Secretary of Agriculture, recently said, “This is a learning lesson; not all is bad.” He explains farmers now know which crops and buildings can survive a Category 5 hurricane.

Today, Puerto Rico’s farmers stand at a crossroads. Between Hurricanes Irma and Maria, the island’s agricultural sector has been stripped to its roots. Farmers watched the storms flatten 80 percent of their crop value while their topsoil washed by the ton into the ocean.

Four years ago, Puerto Rico’s government began an ambitious bid to usher in a new era of investment in the island’s farms. They installed numerous new incentives: farm supplies were exempted from sales and use taxes, up to 40 percent of the sticker prices of farm vehicles were subsidized, and half of the cost of tractors could be reimbursed. Almost 2,000 new farms were established. As recently as March, NBC was running headlines stating, “Puerto Rico Experiences an Agricultural Renaissance.” Puerto-Rican American politicians like Rep. Darren Soto (D-FL.) were working on a roadmap for Congress to support the trend.

Puerto Rico had good reasons to want an agricultural and food system revolution before Maria—and now, they have good reasons and urgency for that transformation to take place. Let’s help them do it.

Read the full article about Puerto Rico agriculture from Food Tank