As I was sitting the first day in the Citrus Institute conference room with the citrus researchers, I was impressed by the informal productive discussions and the cooperative environment. Richard was the only man in the room. Later, I discovered that the leaders of the Institute and its subdivisions are mostly women. We also learned that instead of fixed departments, there are flexible research groups. Each person may belong to several such groups, leading one and being a participant in others.
Some groups are long-term and others are created and dissolved, according to research needs.
The Institute carries out research and then makes practical recommendations to farms. It has been a pioneer in the concept of mixed urban, suburban, and rural agriculture. It is on the forefront in graded transition to ecological and organic agriculture, as well as polyculture in fruit growing. Richard Levins has been a long-time participant and observer in this process, and his contributions carry significant weight, the Cubans told me. To witness progress in these areas, we made a field trip to the Granja, the site of our collaborative research on pest dynamics of citrus.