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this pointed question which concludes
Bill McKibben's Cuba diet illuminates a
core problem with our food system scale
when we look towards the industrialized
and chemically heavy agriculture of the
United States it's hard not to notice
massive yields that are pulled from the
soil every day and it's equally hard to
imagine a system that could possibly
replace such a large operation although
local food systems lead to stronger and
more sustainable connections to food and
community is it really possible for a
mosaic of small food markets or systems
to support a country like the United
States to answer that question let's
dive into an agricultural model that has
been largely isolated from global trade
patterns chemical inputs and fossil
fuels for over four decades Cuba Cuba is
truly a unique case in agriculture
because it's existed outside of the
global system for so long
up until the collapse of the Soviet
Union Cuba mainly grew sugar and traded
exclusively with the Soviets for staples
such as rice we tractors and gas but the
system was dramatically upended in 1991
when the Soviet Union unraveled and the
u.s. maintained its trade embargo on
Cuba the country was left isolated from
oil staple foods and mechanized farming
systems like tractors that were a
cornerstone of their farms as a result
Cuba entered what was deemed the special
period journalist and author Bill
McKibben writes that in 1989 the average
Cuban was eating about 3,000 calories
per day by 1992 however that number
plummeted to 1,900 calories per day
in short Cuba was starving because their
semi industrialized agricultural system
was ripped out from under them they no
longer had access to the machines or
chemicals that allowed them to produce
and trade sugar on a large and global
scale so they turned inward
reanalyzing agriculture not as a global
endeavor but as a national and local
pursuit in essence Cubans out of
necessity transformed their food system
into a network of thousands of small
rural farms and urban market gardens
that used organic principles to heal
rather than destroy their landscape
here's where it gets interesting
this rapid transition from a fossil fuel
dependent and monoculture based system
to a diversified food culture is a key
lesson to take away from Cuba's special
period McKibben shares that in the 1980s
Cuba had more tractors per hectare than
California but by the 2000s tractors
were quickly replaced by over 400,000
oxen teams monocultures were replanted
into polycultures crop diversity was
valued for its ability to decrease pest
pressure and encourage healthy soil
fossil fuel reliant techniques were
replaced with sustainable and
permaculture oriented systems Organo
upon eCos or the Cuban term for any
urban garden proliferated widely take
for example Havana because small market
gardens and urban farms have been
allowed to thrive there the city now
produces roughly 90 percent of its own
food this is in part thanks to the
well-thought-out organic methods of
pioneers like Miguel's sauciness founder
of viva el al ahmar farm 27 acres on
Havana's outskirts a small parcel of
land but one that produces food for
80,000 residents in the surrounding
community but Havana and Cuba in general
still needs to import certain foods
especially in times when the island is
devastated by hurricanes like in 2008
when it imported nearly 55 percent of
its total food consumption with meat and
vegetable oils among the highest imports
in the country so Cuba's local food
system isn't perfect but it shines in
comparison to small-scale food systems
in countries like the United States
where most urban and suburban dwellers
are hard
to find a local vegetable vendor close
to them but could walk a mile in either
direction and likely find a handful of
vast food restaurants what then can
regional food systems in a place like
the United States learn from Cuba's
transition to organically focused
agriculture Cuba's case is admittedly
fairly unique their agricultural
transformation was out of necessity
Cuba's one-party political system made
such a drastic transition Swifter
because the decision to reinvent their
food system was unilateral Cuba's
government encouraged and supported
national universities that matriculated
hundreds of thousands of bright minds
specializing in soil fertility and
natural pest prevention in essence
Cuba's agricultural processes were able
to change quickly because they were in
crisis and their governing body through
its weight behind a small-scale organic
revolution despite the differences
between Cuba and the United States
Cuba's agricultural system has promising
applications for possible local
transitions in industrialized countries
like the United States it demonstrates
that a successful sustainable
agricultural model should function
within and for a local community focus
on biologically intensive farming on
small acreage and rely on a web of
farmers rather than a couple of
large-scale operations Cuba may not be
able to grow everything but it shows the
power of small diverse and intensive
farms when applied to the United States
this means leaning into endeavors like
backyard farms and community supported
agriculture just two practices among
many that helped build local food
systems the ultimate goal of this is to
develop strong relationships between
community farmers and the food we put in
our mouths
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