"It's a really interesting model looking at what's possible in a nation that's 80 percent urban," said Catherine Murphy, a California sociologist who spent a decade studying farms in Havana. "It shows that cities can produce huge amounts of their own food, and you get all kinds of social and ecological benefits."
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"It's land that otherwise would be sitting idle. It requires little or no transportation to get (produce) to market," said Bill Messina, an agricultural economist at the University of Florida in Gainesville. "It's good anyway you look at it."
And with fuel prices and food shortages causing unrest and hunger across the world, many say the Cuban model should spread.
"There are certain issues where we think Cuba has a lot to teach the world. Urban agriculture is one of them," said Beat Schmid, coordinator of Cuba programs for the charity Oxfam International.
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One technician tends compost that serves as natural fertilizer, while another handles natural protection from pests, surrounding delicate spinach shoots with strong-smelling celery to ward off insects. Such measures have ecological benefits but were born of necessity: Neither commercial fertilizer nor herbicide is reliably available.
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Customers say the farm has given them not only access to affordable food, but also a radical change in their cuisine.
"Nobody used to eat vegetables," said David Leon, 50, buying two pounds (about a kilo) of Swiss chard. "People's nutrition has improved a lot. It's a lot healthier. And it tastes good."
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