PROGRESS REPORT 
 
DATE: December 1st, 2020 
TO: Pier LeCompte-Zambrana, Professor of the University of Puerto Rico at Ponce 
FROM: Jacob A. De Jesus-Candelario, Irianis T. Echevarría-Rojas, Verónica García-Santiago, Kevin 
J. Hernandez-Orengo, and Sherley A. León Rosado 
SUBJECT: Progress Report on Agro-Ecological Farms Project 
 

INTRODUCTORY SUMMARY 
On September 3rd, 2020 a project consisting of writing a progress report was given to students 
of the course ENGL 4021 M03 at UPR-Ponce by Professor LeCompte to apply all the topics given 
in class, as well as characteristics of technical documents. We agreed the project would consist of 
four phases.   

1. Phase 1: Do research on farms, sustainability, crops and agroecological farms. 

2. Phase 2: Contact an agroecological farm to schedule an appointment. 
3. Phase 3: Visit a farm and assist in the labors of the farm. 
4. Phase 4: Do a Progress Report to document our work.  

All phases have been completed. Phase 1 was completed on September 23rd, 2020. We 
completed Phase 2 on November 5th, 2020. We completed Phase 3 on November 17th, 2020; 
we visited Hacienda Hostosiana in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. Phase 4 was completed on November 
30th, 2020. This report gives details of the stages mentioned.  
 
 

WORK COMPLETED 
On October 28th, 2020 a survey was conducted through a group chat mobile application. All 
members of the group agreed to visit an agroecological farm. After contacting multiple 
agroecological producers, we reached out to Hacienda Hostosiana located in Mayagüez, Puerto 
Rico. The date coordinated for our visit was November 17th, 2020. 

 
 
 

Tasks done in the farm  

Hacienda Hostosiana covers 5.4 acres of land. Different crops are cultivated in this farm, 
including: taro, yucca, coffee, corn, beans and tomatoes. Being a fairly large place, the owners 
accepted all possible voluntary help. One of the groups actively assisting in the farm are students 
from Agroecological School Josco Bravo in Toa Alta. The day we had the opportunity to visit the 
establishment we carried out different tasks. The tasks performed were: 

● Harvest coffee 
● Weeding the banks 
● Collect grapefruit 
● Uproot dry plants 

In addition, we had the opportunity to know some of the history of their land, how they promote 
polycultures in their crops, and medicinal values of some of the food they farm.  
 
 

CONCLUSION 
Our research, as well as our visit to Hacienda Hostosiana gave us good insight on 
sustainability, farming, biodiversity, commerce and ecological ethics. We have become aware of 
how our actions impact the well-being of our environment. Thus, we look forward to applying and 
practicing methods that preserve our biosphere. We believe this project helped us acknowledge 
the work behind agroecological farms, grow crops more ethically, and inquire insight of some 
practices in the science fields.  
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

Appendix A: Photos 

 
Figure 1​. Veronica Garcia, Sherley A. Leon and workers of the farms collect grapefruit. Photo 
taken by Gudelia Acevedo. November 2020.  
 

 
Figure 2​. Veronica Garcia Santiago and Sherley A. Leon Rosado weeding the seed banks. Photo taken by 
Gudelia Acevedo. November 2020.  

 
 
 

 
Figure 3​. Irianis Echevarria, Jacod de Jesus and Kevin J. Hernandez weeding the seed banks. Photo taken 
by Gudelia Acevedo. November 2020.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 4.​ Veronica Garcia, Kevin J. Hernandez, Sherley A. Leon and Jacob de Jesus collected coffee 
beans. Photo taken by Gudelia Acevedo. November 2020.  

 
 
 

Appendix B: Service logs that evidence the work performed by all members.