Alexander Quesada was gifted a tractor for turning a Cuban rubbish dump into a model farm, but these days he is using oxen to pull his plow as a severe energy crisis worsened by a U.S. blockade hobbles food production.

The changing fortunes of Quesada¡¯s organic farm ¡ª Finca Burgambilia,?named after the vibrant purple flowers that bedeck the entrance ¡ª follow those of communist Cuba¡¯s relations with the United States over the past decade.

Quesada, 52, looks back fondly on what he refers to as the ¡°Obama years¡± a decade ago, when a historic detente with Washington helped spur a tourist influx.