This book presents the case for alternative farming and food systems on the grounds of ecology, human health and the depletion of natural resources. But it is the focus on the inevitable decline of fossil fuel availability which gives this book its impetus. The concepts of ‘peak oil’ and ‘post-petroleum food systems’ are fully recognized and used to support the case against ‘industrial agriculture’.

The author uses Cuba as a living example of how an agricultural economy might cope with sudden shortages of fertilizers, pesticides and fuel, by analysing the Cuban situation after the withdrawal of Soviet support in 1989, and the continued trade embargo imposed by the USA. The book, which is adapted from the author's PhD thesis at Wageningen, analyses how Cuban agriculture adapted in the 1990s to scarce inputs and falling prices for its main exports of sugar and tobacco. Food shortages were addressed, first, by price controls and rationing, then by major shifts in the structure of agriculture to give greater incentives to farmers. The government then promoted low-input, sustainable systems and the development of urban farming. Wright traces the rapid moves to organic methods such as biological pest control, organic manures and the partial replacement of tractors with draught oxen. By the late 1990s, Cuba had achieved food self-sufficiency. More recently, as trade in oil and oil-related inputs has increased, there is evidence of some return to a less sustainable agriculture.

This important, well-referenced book sheds light on how agri-food systems may have to adapt to long-term oil shortages.