Embracing Change As The World Evolves

Notes From Puerto Rico:

Hotel Villa Cofresí was the first hotel in Rincón and was the inspiration for other hotels, guest houses, and restaurants around the area. This has made Rincón one of the most popular vacation destinations in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. It served the best Angus steaks, fresh seafood and Puerto Rican cuisine in the area. In 1965, a young couple, Rubén and Rita Caro acquired Villa Cofresí. In the year 1968, the World Surfing Tournament was celebrated in Rincón and we were fortunate to be here for the 50th year anniversary of that event. Back then, the Puerto Rico Tourism Company provided the owners of Villa Cofresí with incentives and the government gave them loans in order for them to built rooms for the surfers visiting Rincón from around the world. With this help, twelve additional rooms were built.

Well after the 50 year anniversary, Hotel Villa Cofresí remains the favorite among locals and internationals being number one in Trip Advisor. Since 1995, Rubén and Rita Caro’s children administer the hotel.

It’s extraordinary to me how much has changed in the decades since this early hotel came into existence. Friends of ours who moved here even 20 years ago reminisce about how much has changed since they first arrived in Puerto Rico. There was no Costco, Sam's Club, Target or Walmart, nor were any of the major fast food franchises here yet, not that those are necessarily signs of progress, but change none the less.

If you look back just a decade ago, the US national debt was $11.4 trillion. Ten years later the debt has nearly doubled to more than $22 trillion.

When expressed as a percentage of GDP, the US national debt has increased from 64% of GDP in 2009, to 105% today.

A decade ago the world was suffering through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression; world economies were wrecked because central banks had printed too much money during the early 2000s, and kept interest rates far too low for far too long.

Yet over the past decade, we’ve seen central banks print even more money, conjuring trillions of dollars out of thin air and holding interest rates down to the lowest levels ever seen in the history of the world.

Several advanced economies, including the eurozone, Switzerland, Denmark, and Planet Japan, now actually have NEGATIVE interest rates.

You get the idea: the world is radically different than it was even just ten years ago and Puerto Rico suffered its own financial and environmental crisis along the way. Although it was a catastrophic event, Hurricane Maria was not a sole-source issue for the decades-long challenges being faced by Puerto Rico.

But because we spend our lives in a daily grind, slowly becoming accustomed to these changes, it’s hard to notice unless you step back and look at the big picture.

I hope to show why, in light of all kinds of reasons to lose hope, I remain ever-optimistic and ever more convinced that Food Sovereignty is key to our ultimate safety and self-sustainability.

As I write this update to you, I’m sitting by the window in my oceanfront, Caribbean beachside condo, staring down at the pool, across to the sandy beach and coconut trees and the lapping waves below.

I can’t help but think of all the turmoil this place has witnessed and yet here I am enjoying an amazing and peaceful experience in a tropical paradise.

This condo and the likes of Villa Cofresi and Puerto Rico, in general, has survived countless tropical storms, multiple hurricanes, financial crises, and even political corruption.

Despite all the challenges and stupidity thrust upon us, humanity pushes forward. It’s noteworthy that the average household in PR enjoys a more comfortable lifestyle than the prior generations could have dreamed about when the majority of the population was without power as a norm, not just a by-product of a hurricane outage. Puerto Rico's first electric lighting system began operations in 1893, but the first government-funded power plant wasn't built until 1908. To this point in the history of Puerto Rico up until the 1940's, electricity was essentially confined to urban areas, with just 12 percent of the rural population having access. The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority was only formally organized in 1941, so many parts of the island existed without power in some places up until the 1970's.

And for the most part, it’s getting better.

There will always be bumps in the road ahead… and occasionally severe ones. I just want to be sensibly prepared for the journey no matter what terrain we may encounter.

As a final point, I truly want to express my sincerest gratitude to our Investors, Followers, Supporters, and Friends.

I co-founded this venture with Lisa with nothing but a laptop, the problem defined, the research to support the solution and an insatiable desire to make a contribution.

We cherish the relationships we’ve been able to develop-- with our team, with our IMPACT Investors in our Online Public Offering and with our Followers and Supporters from around the globe.

Whether you’ve been part of this community from Day 1, or this is your first day as a Fusion Farms IMPACT Investor, we are truly grateful for the honor of being entrusted with a part of your investment portfolio.