No suspense here. It’s Cuba.

A whopping 80 percent of Cuba’s agriculture is organic. If they can accomplish this, why can’t we?

Okay, you’re right, politics doesn’t allow us to. With huge corporate agriculture influencing Congress and bullying the rest of the market, it’s a tough game to be in. Still, we can marvel over Cuba’s success in the organic arena.

80% is a phenomenal success.

Trevor Reichman, writing for treehugger.com, reports:

“50% of Cuba’s agriculture now comes from urban farms. In the smaller towns, they produce 80 to 100% of the vegetables they need, eliminating the need to transport food long distances. The move back to a human and animal powered harvest, instead of heavy machinery, quickly created 140,000 new jobs in a country with a population 30 times smaller than the USA. In order to produce food without the use of fossil fuels, It was a matter of reclaiming land from the large scale industrial agricultural corporations. According to the documentary, The Power of Community, 80% of Cuba’s agricultural production is now organic!”

In 2001, the BBC reported that Cuba’s annual production of fruit and vegetables was growing at 250% a year.

Back in 1993-1994, Cuba was teetering on the brink of nationwide starvation due to severe food shortages. The Cuban government made organic farming a priority and handed over eighty percent of state-owned land to private shareholder enterprises. The success is impressive to say the least, but especially so for a third world island nation.

Bravo!

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For the last 20 years, Dr. Vic Shayne has been involved in nutritional research, both personally and professionally. He’s written several books on the importance of foods and how their nutrients differ from isolates found in vitamin pills. Health is not something we can take for granted.

Visit his website to learn more.