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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
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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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