How a grassroots food network helped shape national policy
06 Nov 2025
In late September, as the humid air over Havana began to soften with the changing season, Cuba quietly made history. Decree No. 128 on Agroecology, published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Cuba, set a new course for the country’s food system, one rooted not in industrial inputs or imported seeds, but in the knowledge of its own farmers.
The law, which will come into force by the end of the year, formalizes something that’s been growing in Cuba for decades: a widespread embrace of agroecology, a way of farming that blends ecological science with traditional knowledge and local culture. It’s a model built on diversity, cooperation, and resilience-and now, it finally has legal recognition.
A Result That Rewards Years of Hard Work
“The decree is born from the experiences and knowledge gathered over three decades of implementing and developing agroecology in Cuba,” says Elizabeth Peña Turruellas, Director of Urban, Suburban, and Family Agriculture at the Ministry of Agriculture. Her words reflect a truth that anyone visiting the island’s small farms can see firsthand: this is not a top-down reform, but the institutionalization of a people-led movement.
The Slow Food Cuban network have spent years connecting farmers, researchers, and institutions under a shared vision of food sovereignty. Slow Food’s presence in Cuba started when local groups began joining the international movement for good, clean, and fair food. Since then, its members have worked alongside academics and public agencies to bring agroecology into national conversations about food and policy.
At the heart of that movement is Leidy Casimiro, a farmer, university professor, and Slow Food international councilor who has spent years bridging the gap between practice and policy. Her family’s farm, Finca del Medio, was among the first to join the Slow Food Farms network. It lies in the central province of Sancti Spíritus-a lush mosaic of orchards, compost heaps, and animal pens. For years, it has served as a living classroom – a place where Slow Food ideals meet practical innovation. Students, scientists, and visitors go there to see how circular farming systems can thrive without chemicals or waste, and how food production can nurture both people and ecosystems.
A field visit at Finca del Medio, Cuba
Each Ministry Will Have a Part to Play in Weaving Agroecological Principles into Their Policies
“The approval of the decree marks a fundamental advance toward sustainable, equitable, and culturally rooted agricultural models,” Casimiro says. She helped draft the text herself, drawing on earlier work that began in 2021, when a coalition of farmers, academics, and policymakers proposed Cuba’s first Public Policy for Agroecology. That proposal later became part of the national Food Sovereignty and Nutritional Education Plan, linking food production to education, science, and community wellbeing.
The new decree builds on that foundation. For the first time in Cuba’s history, it formally recognizes Participatory Guarantee Systems-a locally driven method of certifying farms based on trust and transparency – as well as agroecological tourism and a National Fund for the Promotion of Agroecology. These elements might sound technical, but together they form the scaffolding of a more self-sufficient rural economy.
“Agroecology is defined here as a broad, transdisciplinary science that integrates ecological, economic, and cultural dimensions,” Casimiro explains. “It’s not just about farming-it’s about rethinking how we live with the land.”
Over the next few months, training and outreach programs will roll out to farmers’ cooperatives, schools, and local governments. Each ministry – from education to energy – will have a part to play in weaving agroecological principles into their policies. The decree also calls for incentives for farmers transitioning to ecological methods and for greater recognition of women and young people in the countryside.
Farmers' knowledge matters
For Casimiro, the policy represents something larger than legislation. It’s a sign that the government is listening to the small farmers who have kept Cuban agriculture afloat for decades. “This is about acknowledging that the knowledge we’ve built collectively-farmers, scientists, communities-matters,” she says. “It’s about giving that knowledge a future.”
Cuba’s path toward agroecology has been shaped by necessity as much as vision. When the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s, the island suddenly lost access to fertilizers, fuel, and machinery. Farmers began experimenting-with composting, natural pest control, and local seed systems-and Slow Food’s philosophy of reconnecting people, food, and nature found fertile ground. What began as a survival strategy grew into a social movement and, now, a national policy.
With Decree 128, Cuba isn’t just institutionalizing agroecology-it’s affirming the work of countless farmers, cooperatives, and organizations like Slow Food that kept the idea alive through years of experimentation and exchange.
“At Slow Food, we applaud these achievements and express our commitment to continue supporting the transition of local food systems and their food sovereignty”.
And somewhere in the center of the island, at Finca del Medio, Casimiro and her family continue their work-planting, teaching, and quietly shaping what Cuba’s next harvest of ideas might look like.