Cuba's Successful Organic Farms
Subject: New Book on Cuba's Successful Organic Farms.................
Date:
Mon, 25 Feb 2002 16:42:37 -0500
From: Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State of
California, Department of Pesticide Regulation
cc: Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov
Dear Mr. Helliker,
I thought you might like to read a New Book on
Cuba
's Successful Organic Farms.
Contact: Nick Parker (510) 654-4400, ext. 229 Policy Think
Tank Releases New Book on
Cuba
's Successful Organic Farms First time any country has made the transition from
chemical-intensive farming to sustainable agriculture on an national scale To
order: http://www.foodfirst.org/cuba/ . "To understand Cuban agricultural
development we must first look at the richness of detail in this volume. Then we
have to step back and squint to capture the truly novel pathway of development
that
Cuba
is pioneering.
And then once again we have to focus in on the details, and
glimpse the processes through which
Cuba
is creating something truly new and hopeful for all of humanity."
--Professor Richard Levins, Harvard University School of
Public Health OAKLAND, CA -
Cuba
's successful switch from chemical-intensive to sustainable agriculture carried
the island nation back from the brink of a national food crisis brought on by
the 1990 collapse of trade relations with the former socialist bloc. This
fascinating case demonstrates that organic agriculture could actually work as
the basis of an entire nation's farming sector, putting the lie to the
oft-repeated myth that "organic farming could never feed the world,"
according to a new book-length report issued by Food First/The Institute for
Food and Development Policy, a food policy think tank.
The multi-author report, Sustainable Agriculture and
Resistance Transforming Food Production in
Cuba
, is largely written by Cuban experts on agricultural production, and represents
the first time Cubans have made public the details of this enormous agricultural
transformation.
To discuss
Cuba
's unique national experience with organic farming, and this report, Food First
and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) are bringing
lead author Dr. Fernando Funes, a key player in the Cuban transformation, on a
nationwide speaking tour. Dr. Funes will be appearing at universities and book
stores throughout the
United States
from February 15 to March 12 of this year.
For 30 years
Cuba
had fully embraced chemical pesticide- and fertilizer-intensive farming methods
to meet its domestic food and export needs. After the collapse of the
Soviet Union
in 1989,
Cuba
, a target of a thirty-year economic embargo by the
United States
, lost its biggest trading partner and its ability to import food and the
chemicals and machines to grow it using conventional technology.
"Suddenly $8 billion a year disappeared from Cuban
trade Imports were reduced by 75 percent, including most foodstuffs, spare
parts, agrochemicals, and industrial equipment," according to Dr. Funes.
"Unexpectedly a 'modern' and industrialized
agricultural system had to face the challenge to increase food production while
maintaining production for export, all with more than 50 percent drop in the
availability of [agricultural] inputs."
Sustainable Agriculture explores the ambitious program
Cuba
embarked on during the ten years subsequent to the collapse of the
Soviet Union
, a program which fed the country's population. By 1999
Cuba
's agricultural production had recovered and in some cases reached historic
levels. While rural farms and farmers contributed greatly to this success, a key
component was the emergence of urban farms and gardens as the principle source
of fresh produce in cities.
"In the early 1990's a strong urban agriculture was
born in which thousands of people produce food using organic methods that help
supply basic foodstuffs to urban families," said Dr. Funes. "The
effectiveness of organic techniques in urban gardening has been clearly
demonstrated, and it is here that we are possibly closest to the ideal of
sustainable agriculture, due in part to the prohibition of the use of chemicals
because of the proximity to dense human populations."
Sustainable Agriculture and Resistance: Transforming Food
Production in
Cuba
includes the contribution of thirty-two of
Cuba
's leading agriculture researchers, plus three American experts on
Cuba
agriculture, including Dr.
Peter Rosset, the co-director of Food First. It also
includes a prologue by Professor Miguel Altieri of the
University
of
California
at
Berkeley
, and an epilog by Professor Richard Levins of
Harvard
University
.
For more information about the book or to interview Dr.
Fernando Funes - who speaks English - and/or Dr. Rosset, please contact Nick
Parker at (510) 654-4400 ext. 229, or at nparker@foodfirst.org, or visit the web
page at http://www.foodfirst.org/cuba/ .
Food First, also known as the Institute for Food and
Development Policy, founded in 1975 by Frances Moore Lappi and Joseph Collins
after the success of Ms. Lappi's book Diet for a Small Planet, is a policy think
tank that carries out research and education-for-action. Food First works to
identify the root causes of hunger and poverty in the
United States
and around the world, and to educate the public as well as policy makers about
these problems and alternative solutions to them. Visit Food First's web site at
http://www.foodfirst.org/ .
Well Mr. Helliker, It is
amazing what you can do if you really want to.
Respectfully,
Stephen L. Tvedten
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