The number of farms in Puerto Rico growing crops and the sales value of those crops increased between 2018 and 2022, according to data from the 2022 Census of Agriculture. The previous Census captured the effects of major destruction to Puerto Rico's agricultural sector caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria in late 2017. The hurricane's impact was spread across all crops, with the number of farms falling 59 percent from 9,367 farms in 2012 to 3,877 farms in 2018. The damage accelerated the trend of consolidation of cropland from smaller farms to fewer, larger farms.
Fruit and coconut sales grew by nearly 168 percent, while banana and plantain sales rose by 58 percent. Sales for other crops (pineapples, root crops or tubers, and grasses) increased by 62 percent in 2022. Total crop sales for 2022, which were partly driven by higher prices, surpassed 2012, growing by 46 percent from 2018 to 2022 to $353 million. For more details on the hurricanes' effect on Puerto Rico's agricultural sector, see the USDA, Economic Research Service report, Puerto Rico's Agricultural Economy in the Aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria.
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