When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 the Russians stopped supplying oil to Cuba and it became the first industrialised society to go through life after oil. As a result, Havana currently produces more than 50% of the fruit and vegetables its residents eat. Could London or Manchester or Birmingham do the same? We won't know until we try, but Middlesbrough Council, who recently joined 10:10, have shown the way.

In 2007 Middlesbrough was the venue for a fascinating experiment in urban food growing. During the summer and autumn thousands of residents participated in a project to increase local food production and make locally grown food available to local people.

The project was led by Middlesbrough Council and involved schools, allotment associations, mental health units, residents’ groups and voluntary organisations. Residents and community groups were asked to identify unused land that could be used for food growing. If it belonged to someone other than the council, then officers negotiated with the landowner on behalf of local residents. The council also offered other enabling services like advice workshops, free seeds and free tools for those on low incomes.

More than 1,000 people began growing fruit and vegetables in containers at 152 locations across the town. The experiment culminated in a town meal for 6,000 which cost just £80 – the price of the pasta!

From 'Robocop' to radish crop

Middlesbrough’s food growing experiment did two things. First, and perhaps most importantly for the town itself, it dispelled the image of Middlesbrough as a centre of anti-social behaviour, where “Robocop” Ray Mallon was elected mayor following his zero tolerance campaign as Detective Superintendent. There were only two incidents of anti-social behaviour against the food growing sites in the first year – possibly because so many schoolchildren and their families were involved.

The second thing Middlesbrough did was replace Cuba as the pin-up of urban food growing. This is not to denigrate what the Cubans managed to do without oil, which was truly amazing, but it’s sometimes hard to persuade people in a society like ours that we should follow Cuba, even when they get it right!