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[OPIRG-EVENTS] February 2-9, 2003: Organic Agriculture Tour of Cuba





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To:             	Ottawa-Organic@yahoogroups.com
From:           	"ibs_pei" <ibs_pei@yahoo.com>
Date sent:      	Fri, 13 Sep 2002 18:17:21 -0000
Subject:        	[Ottawa-Organic] Organic Agriculture Tour of Cuba
Send reply to:  	Ottawa-Organic@yahoogroups.com

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Organic Agriculture Tour of Cuba

Please join the Institute for Bioregional Studies on a tour that promises 
to be enlightening, informative, inspiring and entertaining. 
www.macqueens.com/ibs  

Why Cuba?
An agricultural system that promotes ecologically sustainable 
production thorough soil conservation, organic soil inputs, biological 
pest control, and the reincorporation of rural populations into 
agriculture may seem to be a utopian vision in much of the Western 
world but it is nothing more than government policy in Cuba.

Prior to 1989 Cuban agriculture was based on large-scale, 
capital-intensive mono-culture. More  than 90 percent of fertilizers 
and pesticides, were imported from  abroad. When trade relations with 
the socialist bloc collapsed, pesticides and fertilizers virtually 
disappeared, and the availability of  petroleum for agriculture 
dropped by half. Food imports also fell by more than a half. 
The result was that Cuba underwent a conversion from modern 
agro-chemical agriculture to organic or semi-organic farming. 

In this sense, Cuba is breaking down the myths that have inhibited the 
widespread adoption of organic farming and is undergoing the largest 
conversion to organic farming in world history.

The Cuban Association for Organic Farming, a non-governmental 
organization, holds that Cuba offers the very first large- scale test 
of more sustainable alternatives,  perhaps the only chance to see what 
works and what doesn't, before environmental realities mandate the 
rest of the world embark on a sudden, wholesale switch to organic 
agriculture.

When?
February 2-9, 2003 (With an optional second holiday week).
Since this is the peak tourist time in Cuba, you must register for the 
tour before December 1, 2002

How?
Visit our www site for details. www.macqueens.com/ibs

Highlights:

Meetfarmers, professors and other experts. 

See sugar cane, rice, vegetable, root crop, animal production sites, and 
    green medicine gardens - and its integration in socialized healthcare - 
    while we tour and learn about the leadership role this "developing" nation 
    is undergoing in regards to sustainable development . 

Visitcommunity run urban gardens, farmers markets and rural agricultural 
    co-ops

Joinus in our efforts to establish real links and  connections with our 
    Cuban counterparts. 



The Institute for Bioregional Studies is a nonprofit, charitable 
organization dedicated to the promotion of "restoring community, 
protecting the land and informing the earth's stewards."
Please assist us by forwarding this announcement to others, creating 
links to our www site and posting this announcement where ever 
possible. Thank you.

Visit our www site for details. www.macqueens.com/ibs

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