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Low-carbon food supply: the ecological geography of Cuban urban agriculture and agroecological theory

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  • Gustav Cederlöf

    (King’s College London)

Abstract

Urban agriculture in Cuba is often promoted as an example of how agroecological farming can overcome the need for oil-derived inputs in food production. This article examines the geographical implications of Cuba’s low-carbon urban farming based on fieldwork in five organopónicos in Pinar del Río. The article charts how energy flows, biophysical relations, and socially mediated ecological processes are spatially organised to enable large-scale urban agricultural production. To explain this production system, the literature on Cuban agroecology postulates a model of two distinct modes: agroecology versus industrial agriculture. Yet this distinction inadequately explains Cuba’s urban agriculture: production in the organopónicos rather sits across categories, at once involving agroecological, organic-industrial, and petro-industrial features. To resolve this contradiction, a more nuanced framework is developed that conceptualises production systems by means of their geographical configuration. This provides analytical clarity—and a political strategy for a low-carbon, degrowth agenda.

Suggested Citation

  • Gustav Cederlöf, 2016. "Low-carbon food supply: the ecological geography of Cuban urban agriculture and agroecological theory," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 33(4), pages 771-784, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:33:y:2016:i:4:d:10.1007_s10460-015-9659-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-015-9659-y
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Miguel Altieri & Nelso Companioni & Kristina Cañizares & Catherine Murphy & Peter Rosset & Martin Bourque & Clara Nicholls, 1999. "The greening of the “barrios”: Urban agriculture for food security in Cuba," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 16(2), pages 131-140, June.
    2. David Goodman, 2000. "Organic and conventional agriculture: Materializing discourse and agro-ecological managerialism," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 17(3), pages 215-219, September.
    3. Erin Nelson & Steffanie Scott & Judie Cukier & Ángel Galán, 2009. "Institutionalizing agroecology: successes and challenges in Cuba," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 26(3), pages 233-243, September.
    4. Daly, Herman E, 1974. "The Economics of the Steady State," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 64(2), pages 15-21, May.
    5. John Vandermeer & Judith Carney & Paul Gersper & Ivette Perfecto & Peter Rosset, 1993. "Cuba and the dilemma of modern agriculture," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 10(3), pages 3-8, June.
    6. Bridge, Gavin & Bouzarovski, Stefan & Bradshaw, Michael & Eyre, Nick, 2013. "Geographies of energy transition: Space, place and the low-carbon economy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 331-340.
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