Cuba's economy and agricultural system was once highly integrated with the United States. American companies ran sugar cane plantations. They also invested in tobacco and cattle production. Cuba's agriculture was industrial. And it remained industrial after Fidel Castro came to power. But when the Soviet Union collapsed, everything changed. Cuba had to figure out how to farm without oil. Today, Cuba has more small urban farms than any country in the world. And most of the food produced there is grown organically. Miguel Altieri is a professor of Agroecology at UC Berekeley. He explains what Cuba's food system was like when Castro took over in 1959.
