Co-Founder & Executive DirectorFideicomiso de Tierras Comunitarias para la Agricultura Sostenible
Mariolga Reyes Cruz is an ecofeminist community psychologist, agroecology promoter, and filmmaker from the islands of Puerto Rico. She holds a PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she was a Ford Fellow. Since 2011, she works to amplify the efforts of local agroecologists who are growing food sovereignty in Puerto Rico. She co-produced two series of documentaries showcasing practices in agroecology and an award-wining feature-length documentary highlighting the daily struggles of young landless farmers. After hurricane María devastated the islands in 2017, she began organizing to create FiTiCAS, the first agrarian Community Land Trust in Puerto Rico. FiTiCAS protects farmland in perpetuity as a commons to secure just and equitable access to land for generations of farmers, transforming the food systems through long-term land use agreements and governance structures centered on ecosocial sustainability. Mariolga is an Echoing Green and Big Bets Climate fellow.