Photographer Todd Shapera is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this documentary photography.  From his ongoing project ‘Cuba – Tobacco Farmers“.  To see Todd’s body of work click on any image.

 

A Cuban tobacco farmer preparing to smoke his hand rolled cigar

 

A Cuban farmer with his oxen planting a field of yucca at the base of the mountains
Near Vinales

 

Luca Castillo Perez
His grandfather, Luca Castillo, helped supply Fidel Castro when he was hiding here in the mountains.

 

Our fresh ground coffee beans were placed in this filter and dripping on Nancy’s stove.

 

Cuban tobacco farmers load racks of freshly harvested leaves onto carts hauled by oxen
Near Vinales

 

With scant resources for machinery and chemical fertilizers, most Cubans farm small plots with oxen and human labor.

The New York Times  has called it “a rare oasis of organic and sustainable agriculture.”

As Cuban agriculture slowly modernizes it may have profound consequences for  “the soul of Cuban agriculture” , the Times stated.

 

A Cuban farmer planting yucca
Near Vinales

 

The Cuban farm of Domingo Beancourt Lederma
Near Chile cooperative outside Vinales

 

A Cuban tobacco farmer and his wife of 17 years
Near Vinales

 

A Cuban farmer grinds fresh coffee beans in his work shed
Near Vinales

 

Santa Domingo Settlement
Sierra Maestra Mountains

 

Tobacco farms
Vinales Valley

 

A country farmstead selling pineapple, bananas and tobacco
Near Vinales

 

See also:

Havana, Cuba

By Todd Shapera