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Journal of Sustainable Agriculture
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Global Questions, Local Answers:
Soil Management and Sustainable
Intensification in Diverse Socioeconomic
Contexts of Cuba
a b
Nils Max McCune , Yanetsy Ruiz González , Edith Aguila Alcántara
b b b
, Osvaldo Fernández Martínez , Calixto Onelio Fundora , Niria
c b d
Castillo Arzola , Pedro Cairo Cairo , Marijke D'Haese , Stefaan
d e
DeNeve & Francisco Guevara Hernández
a
University of Ghent, Belgium
b
Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, Universidad Central ‘Marta Abreu’
de Las Villas, Santa Clara, Cuba
c
Faculty of Humanities, Universidad de Ciego de Ávila, Cuba
d
Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, University of Ghent, Belgium
e
Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, Autonomous University of Chiapas,
Mexico
Available online: 11 Jul 2011
To cite this article: Nils Max McCune, Yanetsy Ruiz González, Edith Aguila Alcántara, Osvaldo
Fernández Martínez, Calixto Onelio Fundora, Niria Castillo Arzola, Pedro Cairo Cairo, Marijke D'Haese,
Stefaan DeNeve & Francisco Guevara Hernández (2011): Global Questions, Local Answers: Soil
Management and Sustainable Intensification in Diverse Socioeconomic Contexts of Cuba, Journal of
Sustainable Agriculture, 35:6, 650-670
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10440046.2011.586595
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Downloaded by [Nils McCune] at 21:13 11 July 2011
, Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, 35:650–670, 2011
Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1044-0046 print/1540-7578 online
DOI: 10.1080/10440046.2011.586595
Global Questions, Local Answers: Soil
Management and Sustainable Intensification in
Diverse Socioeconomic Contexts of Cuba
NILS MAX MCCUNE,1 YANETSY RUIZ GONZÁLEZ,2
EDITH AGUILA ALCÁNTARA,2 OSVALDO FERNÁNDEZ MARTÍNEZ,2
CALIXTO ONELIO FUNDORA,2 NIRIA CASTILLO ARZOLA,3
PEDRO CAIRO CAIRO,2 MARIJKE D’HAESE,4
STEFAAN DENEVE,4 and FRANCISCO GUEVARA HERNÁNDEZ5
Downloaded by [Nils McCune] at 21:13 11 July 2011
1
University of Ghent, Belgium
2
Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, Universidad Central ‘Marta Abreu’ de Las Villas, Santa
Clara, Cuba
3
Faculty of Humanities, Universidad de Ciego de Ávila, Cuba
4
Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, University of Ghent, Belgium
5
Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, Autonomous University of Chiapas, Mexico
In the complex context of global food and agricultural systems,
research in agriculture must respond to multidisciplinary ques-
tions of economic development, ecological sustainability and food
justice. With the objective of responding to several of the most
important questions facing agriculture today, this article describes
recent research in three Cuban cropping systems: state farms, coop-
eratives, and small family farmers. Soil management is considered
here as a crux of human intervention in agroecosystems, capable
of determining the impacts of productive activities upon agricul-
tural and ecosystem functions. Management practices commonly
used in each farm system are evaluated using two systems of
indicators, one for technological quality and one for agricultural
intensification. Soil physical quality is characterized through lab-
oratory analysis of samples taken in the same type of soil under
long-term production in state, cooperative, and family farmer
cropping systems. Soil structure management in the small farmer
system is especially worthy of study, because this agricultural sys-
tem has developed an intensive agroecological productive model
Address correspondence to Nils Max McCune, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering,
Coupure links 653, 900 Ghent, Belgium. E-mail: saludcampesina@yahoo.com.mx
650
