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Global food security concerns emphasize the need for sustainable agriculture and local food production. In Puerto Rico, over 80 percent of food is imported, and local production levels have reached historical lows. Efforts to increase local food production are driven by government agencies, non-government organizations, farmers, and consumers. Integration of geographic information helps plan and balance the reinvention and invigoration of the agriculture sector while maintaining ecological services. We used simple criteria that included currently protected lands and the importance of slope and forest cover in protection from erosion to identify land well-suited for conservation, agriculture and forestry in Puerto Rico. Within these categories we assessed U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) farmland soils classification data, lands currently in agricultural production, current land cover, and current land use planning designations. We found that developed lands occupy 13 percent of Puerto Rico; lands well-suited for conservation that include protected areas, riparian buffers, lands surrounding reservoirs, wetlands, beaches, and salt flats, occupy 45 percent of Puerto Rico; potential working lands encompass 42 percent of Puerto Rico. These include lands well-suited for mechanized and non-mechanized agriculture, such as row and specialty crops, livestock, dairy, hay, pasture, and fruits, which occupy 23 percent of Puerto Rico; and areas suitable for forestry production, such as timber and non-timber products, agroforestry, and shade coffee, which occupy 19 percent of Puerto Rico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Germplasm collections are important resources for sorghum improvement and 17 accessions from Honduras were inoculated with Collectotrichum sublineolum and evaluated at the Tropical Agriculture Research Station in Isabela, Puerto Rico during the 2005 and 2006 growing seasons to identify sources of anthracnose resistance. All accessions were rated as resistant, indicating that Honduras is an important source of anthracnose resistant germplasm for sorghum improvement. Reported average annual rainfall is more than 1,000 mm in Honduras suggesting favorable climatic conditions for disease development, which could provide selection pressure for anthracnose resistance resulting in a high frequency of resistant germplasm in the collection [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the analysis of the land in southeastern Puerto Rico which adjacent watersheds and compose of pastural, mixed and forest area. The structure, composition and characteristics of sites are determined using aerial photographs. Sites found are riparian area on streams for vegetation, pasture where dominated with grasses, and forest have more on shrubs, herbs and ferns.