Source: UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO AT MAYAGUEZ submitted to NRP
FOOD SECURITY AND AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH DATA CENTER
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1029124
Grant No.
2022-70008-38350
Cumulative Award Amt.
$200,000.00
Proposal No.
2022-04480
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 15, 2022
Project End Date
Sep 14, 2026
Grant Year
2022
Program Code
[DEG]- Distance Education Grants for Insular Areas
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO AT MAYAGUEZ
P. O. BOX 9000
MAYAGUEZ,PR 00681
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The specific objectives proposed are to (1) develop skills in online databases in agricultural science for researchers and graduate students of the College of Agricultural Sciences (CAS), (2) acquire equipment for the creation of online storage of databases, (3) develop a webpage that contains the databases and five interactive online applications for tracking food security in Puerto Rico, and (4) provide researchers and graduate student with online datasets that can support research and their training. This proposal is requesting funds through DEG Standard Grant. The College of Agricultural Science of the UPRM is developing five online master's degrees in Agricultural Economics, Food Science, Agricultural Education, Animal Science, and Soils. The online students from these programs will need an online database that facilitates the research training as well as thesis developments. This project will provide a free online data depository for papers produced by the UPRM researchers. It is important to note that for publication in most peer-review journals is mandatory to publish the databased used on the paper in free online storage. Recently, Puerto Rico confronted the strike of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, earthquakes in 2019 and 2020, and the COVID-19 pandemic. These events exacerbate serious problems of food security by food shortage, price volatility, and input scarcity. This project will also develop five online applications to monitor food security in PR using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), American Community Survey, and the US Census Foreign Trade Division (FTD). These apps will track food supply to the main Island, food prices, and food security by barrio. To date, most of the import and export data of PR is not available freely on the web. Most of this data is not available freely on the web but is crucial to understanding the PR food market. This project will buy this data from the US Census Foreign Trade Division and make it available to faculty, researchers, and online students of the UPRM.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
60161993010100%
Knowledge Area
601 - Economics of Agricultural Production and Farm Management;

Subject Of Investigation
6199 - Economy, general/other;

Field Of Science
3010 - Economics;
Goals / Objectives
The specific objectives proposed are to (1) develop skills in online databases in agricultural science for researchers and graduate students of the College of Agricultural Sciences (CAS), (2) acquire equipment for the creation of online storage of databases, (3) develop a webpage that contains the databases and five interactive online applications for tracking food security in Puerto Rico, and (4) provide researchers and graduate student with online datasets that can support research and their training.
Project Methods
(1) developing a webpage that contains the databases and five interactive online applications for tracking food security in Puerto Rico 1. Hire a programming external company2. Apps design3. Apps programing4. Apps data feeding (this is going to be made by programming that connects the official webpage with the project webpage and the research assistant)5. Validate app data and performance6. Implement formative and summative evaluations(2) developing skills on online databases in agricultural science to researchers and graduate students of the CAS1. Identify research projects with databases2. Identify the technical needs of professors3. Organize the training4. Offer training to graduate students5. Offer training to professors6. Transforming the databases to the Project format7. Upload the database to the webpage8. Implement formative and summative evaluations(3) acquiring equipment for the creation of online storage of databases 1. Buy materials and equipment (Server)2. Programing3. Implement formative and summative evaluations(4) provide the researchers and the graduate student with online databases that can support research and their training1. Identify the training needs of researchers and graduate students2. Organize the training3. Offer training to graduate researchers and graduate students4. Disseminate to the stakeholders5. Implement formative and summative evaluations

Progress 09/15/23 to 09/14/24

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences of this project were: (1) Students of the College of Agricultural Science. (2) Faculty of the College of Agricultural Science. (3) Public policy makers. (4) General public. Changes/Problems:In August 2024 Puerto Rico faced Ernesto Storm. This generated some delays in the project work. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project offered training on food security data and the applications of food security to students, faculty, and policy makers. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The project was disseminated through an Online web page: https://www.uprm.edu/foodsecuritydatacenter/. The project organized the panel on Food Security at the IV Applied Economic Congress of the UPRM (https://www.uprm.edu/portada/2024/06/14/cuartocongresodeeconomiaagricola/). In this Congress, the project presents preliminary results. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to expand the project data to Virgin Island.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During the academic year 2023-2024, the Project offered the following: (1) The project offered threeconferences on Food Security (2) The project developed applications for the Online web page: https://www.uprm.edu/foodsecuritydatacenter/ (3) Develop estimations on Food Security. (4) Acquired equipment.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Hernandez, J., & Comas, M. (2024). Estimados de la inseguridad alimentaria por barrios y comunidades en Puerto Rico. Revista SEA Edici�n 33 https://www.uprm.edu/sea/revista-sea-ed-33/


Progress 09/15/22 to 09/14/23

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences of this project were: (1) Students of the College of Agricultural Science. (2) Faculty of the College of Agricultural Science. (3) Public policy makers. (4) General public. Changes/Problems:In September 2022 Puerto Rico faced Hurricane Fiona. This generated some delays in the project acquisitions and administrative work. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project will offered training on food security data and the applications on food security to student, faculty and policy makers. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The project project was disseminated through an Online web page: https://www.uprm.edu/foodsecuritydatacenter/. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During the academic year 2022-2023, the Project offered the following: (1) The project offered a conference in Food Security (2) The project developed an Online web page: https://www.uprm.edu/foodsecuritydatacenter/ (3) Develop estimations on Food Security. (4) Acquired equipment.

Publications