Puerto Rico bill seeks to add vacant farms to public property registry
New Progressive Party Sen. Jeison Rosa-Ramos has introduced Senate Bill 877, which would expand Puerto Rico’s public property registry to include vacant farms and additional government-owned land, with the stated goal of promoting agricultural use, conservation and economic development.
The bill proposes amendments to Articles 1 through 8 of Act 19-2011, known as the “Act for the Interactive Registry of Public Properties with Opportunities for Economic Development or Conservation and Protection.” Under the proposal, the statute would be renamed the “Act for the Interactive Registry of Public Properties and Agricultural Farms with Opportunities for Economic Development, Utilization, or Conservation and Protection.”
According to the statement of motives, the measure would allow vacant farms owned by the Puerto Rico Land Authority, along with available parcels belonging to the Puerto Rico Industrial Development Co., the Land Administration and the Housing Department, to be incorporated into the registry. The intent is to make those properties more visible and accessible for productive use, particularly by agricultural entrepreneurs and new farmers.
The Puerto Rico Land Authority, established under the Puerto Rico Land Act of 1941 and currently operating within the Agriculture Department, owns about 85,000 acres, primarily in coastal areas. It also oversees roughly 52,500 acres under the Family Farms Program in the central mountainous region. As of Oct. 23, the agency reported 120 available or vacant farms totaling 4,585.5 acres across seven regions of Puerto Rico.
Despite that inventory, the bill notes that the Land Authority does not have its own online platform to promote or market available agricultural properties. Senate Bill 877 seeks to address that gap by expanding the existing interactive registry, administered by the Puerto Rico Planning Board, to include agricultural parcels and farms in addition to structures and urban properties.
Bill would require agencies to register all available land
Act 19-2011 established public policy to encourage the optimal use of public properties and to support economic, urban and social development through strategic planning for government-owned real estate. Rosa-Ramos’ proposal would broaden that policy to explicitly include agricultural development and rural land use, with an emphasis on conservation and the productive use of land with high agricultural value.
Under the bill, participating agencies — PRIDCO, the Land Administration, the Land Authority and the Housing Department — would be required to register every parcel, farm, structure and property they control in the interactive registry.
“Each property would also be subject to a strategic action plan outlining its potential use, including conservation, agricultural production or economic development,” the bill states. “The Planning Board would maintain the registry through a geographic information system, with provisions for public access.”
The legislation also frames the proposal as part of a broader effort to strengthen local agriculture, improve food security and reduce Puerto Rico’s dependence on imported food products.
