Cuba’s agrifood system in transition, an introduction to the Elementa Special Feature

Abstract

Cuba’s experience in sustainable agriculture and agroecology has been the subject of much international attention, particularly as advocates of agroecology aim to demonstrate the feasibility of implementing alternatives to industrial agriculture on a national scale to support ecological resilience, food security, food sovereignty, and human wellbeing. Such attention has increased since relations between the U.S. and Cuba began to normalize, stimulating speculation as to how this will affect Cuba’s advances in sustainability. The Special Feature Cuba Agrifood Systems in Transition analyses the nuances of agroecological development in Cuba. We emphasized amplifying the voices of locally-based researchers and practitioners by targeting manuscript invitations to Cuban scholars and publishing in both Spanish and English. We outline the process, challenges and goals of this unique endeavor and introduce seven articles, all contributions from Cuba except for one, which is a collaboration between U.S. based and Cuba based scholars. These articles unpack some of the complexities of Cuba’s agrifood system transition and draw on specific information and experiences to discuss successes and challenges of this transition. We thus underline the instructive value of the Cuban experience regarding the path to agrifood system sustainability and hope to spark new collaborative opportunities as scholars and citizens around the world look to develop agrifood systems that will sustain human society long into the future.Please refer to Supplementary Materials, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.335.s1, for a full text Spanish version of this article. La experiencia de Cuba en la agricultura sostenible y la agroecología ha recibido una importante atención internacional, en especial porque los defensores de la agroecología buscan demostrar la factibilidad de implementar alternativas a la agricultura industrial a una escala nacional para respaldar la resiliencia ecológica, la seguridad y la soberanía alimentarias y el bienestar humano. Esa atención no ha hecho sino aumentar desde que las relaciones entre Estados Unidos (EE.UU.) y Cuba empezaron a normalizarse, y se está especulando actualmente sobre cómo afectará esto a los avances de Cuba en materia de sostenibilidad. Este breve artículo de introducción presenta un resumen de la publicación especial El sistema agroalimentario cubano en transición, que tiene el fin de contribuir al conjunto de publicaciones que analizan los matices del desarrollo agroecológico en Cuba, con un énfasis en amplificar las voces de los protagonistas basados a nivel local al invitar a que contribuyan académicos cubanos y publicar en español e inglés. Presentamos el proceso, los desafíos y los objetivos de este esfuerzo único y destacamos la presentación de los siete primeros artículos, todos procedentes de Cuba a excepción de uno, que es una colaboración entre académicos basados en EE.UU. y Cuba. Mediante el análisis de algunas de las complejidades de la transición del sistema agroalimentario cubano y la presentación de estudios detallados y rigurosos sobre sus éxitos y desafíos, esta publicación tiene el fin de mejorar el entendimiento de los lectores sobre el camino para lograr la sostenibilidad del sistema agroalimentario conforme a la evolución del mismo en Cuba. Con esto, esperamos subrayar el valor instructivo del caso de Cuba y generar nuevas oportunidades de colaboración,ya que académicos y ciudadanos de todo el mundo están tratando de desarrollar sistemas agroalimentarios que sustenten a la sociedad por mucho tiempo.La versión en español de este artículo se puede encontrar en Materiales Suplementarias, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.335.s1.

La Picadora: A Case Study in Cuban Agroecotourism

“…It is important to note that agricultural patterns in this part of Cuba were born of economic necessity and access, although deliberate choices since then have maintained sustainable systems of growth, distribution and consumption. La Picadora is indeed a microcosm of larger agrifood transitions throughout the Cuban nation (Fernandez et al 2018) and the use of multiple forms of food production to ensure food security (e.g. Ludlam 2014).…”

Food sovereignty and property in Cuba and the United States

“…Food sovereignty activists assert that this is achievable only through ideological and political changes to the current system. This paper focused on the social relations undergirding property to suggest Fernandez et al 2018a). The politics of innovation around agro-ecology in Cuba is best seen as one that enables us to employ Gibson-Graham's (2006) directive to 'render[ing] visible and intelligible the diverse and proliferating practices that the preoccupation with capitalism has obscured' (Gibson-Graham 2006, x).…”

Agroecology and resilience of smallholder food security: a systematic review

“…Altieri et al (2012) define food sovereignty as the right of everyone to have access to safe, nutritious, and culturally appropriate food in sufficient quantity to sustain a healthy life (i.e., food security) with full human dignity. Fernandez et al (2018) added that the food must be produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and includes their right to define their own food and agricultural systems. Issues of biodiversity and ecosystem services also form important aspects of agroecology.…”

“…It also includes but does not necessarily involve the use of genetically modified organisms in the quest to increase food production for a growing population. This model has been criticized in the literature largely because the model is environmentally destructive, a trade-off that exists between the quest for increased food production and environmental sustainability (Fernandez et al, 2018). The industrial model increases smallholder vulnerability to external markets and shocks (Blazy et al, 2021) and has over the years failed to contribute to the food security of vulnerable smallholders despite major increases in volumes of global food production (Willett et al, 2019).…”