U.S. Corporate Takeover of Puerto Rican Agriculture

Following the U.S. invasion of 1898, mainland American corporations rapidly consolidated control over Puerto Rico's agricultural economy. The process was facilitated by several deliberate policy decisions:

1. Currency devaluation: The U.S. military government devalued Puerto Rican currency by 40%, forcing indebted farmers to sell their land to pay debts now denominated in dollars.

2. Land consolidation: Despite a 500-acre land ownership limit in the Foraker Act (widely ignored), four major U.S. sugar corporations — Eastern Sugar Associates, South Porto Rico Sugar Company, Central Aguirre Associates, and Fajardo Sugar Company — came to control vast swaths of the island's most fertile land.

3. Monoculture economy: By 1930, sugar accounted for over 60% of Puerto Rico's exports. Coffee and tobacco production, which had supported thousands of small farmers, declined sharply.

4. Labor exploitation: Puerto Rican agricultural workers earned a fraction of what mainland workers earned for the same work. Unionization was suppressed, sometimes violently.

The result was a classic colonial extraction economy: raw materials produced by cheap labor were exported to benefit mainland corporations and consumers, while Puerto Ricans became landless laborers dependent on wages from foreign-owned enterprises.