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Love of the Land

"The woman who hosted us said her family had arrived six years ago with only their hands and el espíritu del agricultor - the spirit of the farmer," Guthrie said. "I asked her what that meant. She said, 'It's the love for the land. It's the desire to feed the people in Havana. It's the joy of growing food.'"

That was the connection Guthrie had been seeking. "For many farmers, there's something sacred about our relationship to the land and the essential need all people have to eat the fruits of the land," he said.

Guthrie was one of two Iowa farmers in an ISU-organized delegation that included 13 faculty and staff members and a graduate student. The group spent a week exploring the potential for longer-term relationships with their Cuban counterparts.

Cuba is a remarkable case study in agricultural and social change, said Mike Bell, an ISU rural sociologist who, with his graduate student Jennifer Gay, helped lay the groundwork for the visit.

"In the past decade, Cuba has moved from a heavily chemical-based agricultural model to one that is probably the least dependent on chemicals in the world," Bell said.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, so did Cuba's supply lines for agricultural chemicals, fertilizers and fuel. A long-standing U.S. trade embargo limited Cuba's options for replacing those supplies.

Cubans opted to scrap their conventional system of agriculture and go organic. Large farms got smaller. Urban gardens proliferated. Research began on nonchemical, energy-efficient means of growing food. Although most land is state-owned, it is entrusted to farmers' stewardship. After seven years of transition, Cuba now can feed its 12 million people on its own terms.

"Cuba probably has made the strongest commitment of any country to sustainable techniques of agriculture," Bell said.

What impressed the Iowa delegation is the unity of purpose it found at every level of Cuban society.

"From farmer to bureaucrat to researcher, everyone talked about the same vision for food, agriculture and community," said Lorna Michael Butler, ISU Wallace Chair for Sustainable Agriculture. "Diet, health and community- building are integral to that vision. We don't see that much here in the United States."

ISU sociologist Sue Jarnagin, who teaches a course on social change in developing countries, said, "The Cubans have been amazingly flexible and responsive. There's a palpable sense of civic involvement and responsibility. You hear less of that in America, and more of 'That's not my job.'"

Rick Exner said, "What struck me was how their research establishment has thrown itself into addressing national agricultural problems of production, availability and sustainability." Exner, an extension specialist, coordinates ISU's research partnership with Practical Farmers of Iowa, a group that promotes profitable, ecologically sound farming.

"We'd like to maintain contacts with their scientists, who are doing innovative work in sustainable agriculture, including using biological products to suppress diseases in the field," Exner added. Some return visits already are planned.

There's plenty of red tape to unravel to establish ties with Cuba, so progress may be slow. "The Cuban people understand there is a political problem between our two governments," said agronomist Matt Liebman, "but there is a strong desire to make a connection at the personal level."

- Brian Meyer
   Agriculture Communications