Terceira’s agricultural future, the determination of its farmers, and the challenge of transforming the Azores’ geographical isolation into an opportunity for innovation, production, and international commerce
The land has always been one of the Azores’ most enduring expressions of hope. Across centuries of Atlantic storms, emigration, economic uncertainty, and profound social transformation, generations of islanders have returned to the soil with the conviction that something worthwhile could still be cultivated. On Terceira, where agriculture remains intimately connected to the island’s identity, that confidence is being tested by a troubling contradiction: farmers are discovering new ways to produce, improve quality, and reach international markets, yet inadequate transportation frequently prevents them from realizing the full value of their work. The question is no longer simply whether the Azores can produce competitively, but whether the islands possess the infrastructure, administrative efficiency, and logistical reliability necessary to carry their products beyond the Atlantic.
This contradiction emerges clearly in an interview conducted by Vasco Blayer for Diário dos Açores with Paulo Rocha, President of FRUTER, the Cooperative of Fruit and Vegetable Growers of Terceira Island. His observations reveal an agricultural sector determined to modernize rather than surrender to the limitations of insularity. FRUTER represents four principal activities: bananas, vegetables, floriculture, and honey. Bananas account for approximately 47 percent of the cooperative’s business volume, while vegetable production continues to expand, floriculture is undergoing renewal, and honey remains a promising sector constrained by unfavorable weather conditions. This diversification is particularly important on an island where many agricultural holdings are small and where cooperation offers producers access to technical expertise, commercial opportunities, and economies of scale that would otherwise remain beyond their reach.
The cooperative’s philosophy is straightforward: farmers should concentrate on producing, while FRUTER provides much of the technical, administrative, and commercial support required by modern agriculture. It assists with certification, agricultural records, invoicing, production advice, and regulatory compliance. In banana production, investments in processing facilities have improved classification, storage, and quality control, allowing fruit to be preserved for nearly thirty days. Collaboration with the University of the Azores has introduced laboratory-propagated banana plants free from diseases and viruses, encouraging the renewal of older plantations. Approximately 90 percent of the cooperative’s banana producers operate under integrated production certification. Meanwhile, investments in potato and sweet potato processing, together with efforts to reduce agricultural waste, demonstrate that innovation can increase the value of traditional crops without abandoning the agricultural heritage upon which island communities have depended for generations.
Floriculture offers perhaps the clearest example of Terceira’s international potential. FRUTER works with approximately thirty protea producers and collaborates with a South African company developing new hybrids, testing several varieties annually. Following the renewal of older plantations, Rocha hopes production could exceed three million flowers next year. This ambition is significant because flowers have previously represented more than half of the cooperative’s business volume. Terceira also benefits from a production cycle that complements South Africa’s, allowing Azorean flowers to reach markets when South African production is declining. The cooperative exports to the Netherlands and China and has previously supplied the United States. Its GLOBALG.A.P. certification facilitates access to demanding European markets, demonstrating that Azorean producers can meet international standards. Yet the existence of customers and the recognition of product quality are insufficient when transportation remains unreliable.
Indeed, Rocha identifies logistics as the cooperative’s greatest obstacle. Fresh agricultural products cannot endure prolonged delays, inadequate refrigeration, or careless handling. He recounts a shipment of flowers that arrived in the Netherlands blackened and commercially unusable following handling problems in Lisbon, resulting in losses of several thousand euros. Such incidents represent far more than financial setbacks. They undermine confidence, discourage investment, and threaten relationships with international buyers. Although Atlantic weather inevitably complicates transportation, Rocha argues that climatic conditions cannot explain every failure. The problem extends beyond flowers and vegetables, affecting other Azorean industries, including meat and dairy production. If regional authorities encourage agricultural expansion while transportation systems remain incapable of supporting it, producers are being asked to invest in a future whose essential infrastructure is uncertain.
Administrative obstacles compound these difficulties. Despite repeated promises of simplification, Rocha describes continuing demands involving licensing, inspections, certification, and documentation, alongside delays in agricultural investment programs and payments. Regulation remains necessary to ensure quality, safety, and environmental responsibility, but excessive bureaucracy can discourage precisely the innovation public policies are intended to promote. Nevertheless, the cooperative is attracting younger producers, some proposing ambitious and technologically innovative projects. Their interest challenges the assumption that Azorean agriculture must inevitably decline as older generations retire. Young people will consider farming a viable profession when they encounter dependable markets, effective institutional support, timely payments, and opportunities to build sustainable livelihoods.
For the Azorean diaspora in the United States and Canada, these developments suggest possibilities extending beyond traditional cultural connections. Generations of emigrants and their descendants have maintained relationships with the islands through family, language, religious celebrations, and collective memory. Agricultural commerce could become another dimension of that relationship. Diaspora communities may help introduce regional products to new customers, establish commercial contacts, and encourage partnerships involving distribution, investment, and agricultural expertise. Such initiatives would require careful attention to transportation costs, regulatory requirements, and market demand; cultural affection alone cannot sustain an export business. Yet the diaspora represents a potentially valuable network through which Azorean agricultural innovation could become better known throughout North America.
What emerges from Rocha’s interview is not a portrait of agricultural resignation but one of initiative constrained by structural weaknesses. FRUTER is investing in technology, scientific partnerships, improved processing, international certification, and new varieties. Its producers are demonstrating that tradition and innovation can strengthen one another. What remains uncertain is whether transportation providers and public institutions can respond with comparable determination. The future of Terceira’s agriculture will depend not simply upon producing more, but upon ensuring that increased production generates reliable income, attracts younger generations, and contributes meaningfully to the island’s economic resilience.
And so we return to the fields of Terceira, where every harvest remains an act of faith in tomorrow. Somewhere, a young farmer is planting a new crop; elsewhere, workers are preparing bananas or flowers for journeys across the ocean. Beyond the horizon, customers are waiting for products cultivated in volcanic soil beneath Atlantic skies. Between those two realities lies the challenge Paulo Rocha has so clearly identified: ensuring that distance becomes a manageable condition of commerce rather than a permanent obstacle to prosperity. The Azores have never lacked people willing to work difficult land, imagine new possibilities, and cultivate hope. What they require is a system capable of carrying the fruits of that determination into the wider world. For the land can continue to produce, and its farmers can continue to dream, but those dreams must be given the means to travel.
Based on Vasco Blayer’s interview with Paulo Rocha, President of FRUTER, published in Diário dos Açores, October 17, 2026. The photos are also from DA.