The interim chancellor of the University of Puerto Rico’s Mayagüez Campus (RUM), Dr. Miguel Muñoz, canceled a decade-long collaborative agreement with the El Josco Bravo Agroecology School, notifying the organization on October 4 that the agreement would be terminated. The school says the partnership trained more than 500 new ecological farmers and strengthened sustainable agriculture initiatives across the island.
The arrangement let the school run training programs at RUM’s Alzamora Farm in Mayagüez and at the Agricultural Experiment Station in Gurabo. Originally signed in 2016 by then dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences Dr. Raúl Macchiavelli and renewed in 2024, it allowed operations on the Mayagüez campus for 10 years and in Gurabo for nine.
The university administration cited the large number of participants, use of campus classrooms and parking, and third-party visits to university grounds. The chancellor’s office did not answer requests for comment. The school, a community initiative founded in 2014, operates in nine municipalities serving more than 250 participants annually and says it has trained nearly 2,000 ecological farmers islandwide.
Director Ian Pagán Roig, a RUM graduate, expressed frustration and said the organization remains open to dialogue with the interim chancellor to resume the agreement.