Havana Homegrown: Inside Cuba's Urban Agriculture Revolution

[JFAINTER88]

damn. living off a dollar a day.

[chowowner1]

was not a communist Revolution , was to get rid of the currupt american goverment and give power to the people , and gave free heath care ect. the turned to the communist way when he made links with khruchev(ussr leader).

[squathacker]

Fidel Castro is a great man. Viva la revolucion social!

[Moondoggxxx]

if people would jjust grow thier oen veggies at home, the huge corporate farms could shrink and help out the enviroment and cut back on pollution, everyone has thier own cows and chickens - a barn attachment for everyhouse

[freakoutguitarsolo1]

organic is the way to go

[Lario]

Nice how you start the video off with a shot of a mural of Che Guevara, a communist and murderer.

[squathacker]

@Lario He was not a muderer, but an warrior and hero.

[Lario]

@squathacker "To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary...These procedures are an archaic bourgeois detail. This is a revolution! And a revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate. We must create the pedagogy of the The Wall!" --Ernesto 'Che' Guevara The words of a Murderer... Pull your head out of your rear.

[99minerkc]

Is marijuana legal to smoke in cuba?

[squathacker]

@99minerkc hahaha good question. Mostly, communists doesnt restrict individual fun comrade!

[99minerkc]

@squathacker  So, it's not technically legal but ur saying they tend to do nothing.

[starfiremale]

I had a fantastic time in Cuba,loved Havanah,,,tho got into some very hairy scrapes

[tripled7198]

Thank you, I enjoyed watching this clip. Food Security is a huge issue as our resources get more constrained. Thank you for an enlightening video.

[synapsecracklepop]

factories, commercial property, homes and land in foreclosure... un-remarketable... sitting idle, while millions of unemployed would happily volunteer to reclaim the land... to re-purpose it, for housing and agriculture... even small business.

we're nuts... nothing of merit happens sometimes, until the right people stand to profit, in America

Thanks for posting

[AaronMk91]

Something somewhat touched up on when I took an Envriomental Science class a few months ago for college. We discussed stuff like urban farming and I believe we may have watched a video of a simaler project going on in New York city.

[JosephKrammer]

I strongly believe that Cuba is way ahead in the race to establish sustainable agriculture as a formal agricultural way of production.

[cgalgeciras]

I wonder if the creator asked these farmers if the embargo were to be lifted tomorrow if they would go back to using fertilizers and pesticides. The only reason why Cubans have switched from these is because they don't have the subsidies from the Russians in place anymore to pay for it. I have spoken with several farmers who would go back in a second if it meant that they could increase their productivity.

[kitchengardeners]

@cgalgeciras I'm sure there would be some who would go back to chemicals, just as I'm sure there are many conventional farmers in the US who would like to stop using chemicals if the economic and political conditions allowed them to. Couched in your comment is the notion that organic systems are by their nature less productive than their chemical counterparts and the Cuban example (and others around the world) is challenging that.

[cgalgeciras]

@kitchengardeners Thanks for your response. I am not in agreement with that notion, but many others, who are actually farming in Cuba, still do believe this...

[5lkk]

@cgalgeciras I'm a bit confused.In an communist economy what advantage is there for a small farm in increasing production? In the US capitalist economy, the increase production of many small farms resulted in production outstripping demand with resulting lower income for the family farms. In the theoretical perfect communist economy, increased production should lift all in the country, including the farmer, but for some reason I feel the farmer will not far as well as the rest.

[L555West]

@cgalgeciras Poly-cultures can actually over-yield mono-cultures. Emulating nature in this way means that you don't need any pesticides or chemical-ridden fertilizers to sustain the crop. Check out the work of Wes Jackson and The Land Institute.. really inspirational stuff!

[kryptiea]

lol talks about planting diversity but all the pictures are nothing but monoculture.

[kitchengardeners]

@kryptiea Actually, there was a lot of diversity of crops in the gardens (and the photos), but maybe not what you're expecting. You need to know that we were visiting during the winter so the beds were full of lettuces and other greens, alliums and brassicas, often interplanted in the same bed...very far from a monoculture.

[crewlla]

awesome. Very interesting. I love the fact that the cubans have learnt how to grow there own food then expecting help from others. I wish more people will look at this and start up there own gardens.

[odin422]

WE COULD ALL LEARN A LESSON FROM THESE ORGANIC-FERTILIZER FREE FARMERS! they are awesome