[Pil-pc-oceania] backgrounders on the relocalisation of agriculture in Cuba

[Andrew Leahy]

Hello, with Roberto Perez visiting for APC'9 I thought i'd quickly
send around some links that might provide useful as backgrounders on
Cuba...

Firstly, I've uploaded an 8.5minute segment from the BBC series
"Around the World in 80 Gardens". This clip is from a longer piece in
which UK garden-guru Monty Don visit's Havana and some of it's urban
food growing areas. Has a great soundtrack too!

 http://video.google.com.au/videoplay?docid=6943836409188303615

Secondly, here is a two-part article by Dale Allen Pfeiffer (From The
Wilderness, 2003) which compares how Cuba and North Korea responded to
their mid-90's energy crises. I've included a snippet from the
concluding paragraphs. Apologies if they've been posted previously.

Part 1: NORTH KOREA
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/111703_korea_cuba_1.html

"The painful experiences of North Korea point out that dealing with an
energy crisis is not just a matter of finding an alternative mode of
transportation, an alternative energy source, or a return to organic
agriculture. We are talking about the collapse of a complex system, in
this case a social system that evolved gradually from a
labor-intensive agrarian society to a fossil fuel-supported
industrial/ technological society. It simply is not possible to step
back to an agrarian society all at once, or to take a leap forward
into some unknown high-tech society. Complex systems change gradually,
bit by bit. Faced with immediate change, a complex system tends to
collapse."

Part 2: CUBA http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/120103_korea_2.html

"As declining fossil fuel production impacts civilization, Cuba may
find itself in a position to help lead the world into sustainable
agriculture. Currently, few countries are willing to invest in human
capital and infrastructure the way that Cuba has, but hopefully this
will change in the years ahead.

Resistance to Cuban-style agricultural reform would be particularly
stiff in the United States. Agribusiness will not allow all of its
holdings and power to be expropriated. Nor is the U.S. government
interested in small farms and organic agriculture. The direction of
U.S. agriculture is currently towards more advanced technology,
greater fossil fuel dependency, and less sustainability. The ability
of small farmers and urban gardens to turn a profit is effectively
drowned out by the overproduction of agribusiness.

However, now is the time for people to study agroecology (and
permaculture as well), with an eye towards implementing this
technology, once declining fossil fuel production sparks a crisis in
industrial agriculture. Our survival will depend upon our ability to
implement these ideas once the current technology has failed. The
North Korean example shows that the alternative is unthinkable."

Cheers, Andrew
-- 
Fact: To manufacture a 3 tonne car requires 50 tonnes of raw material.
Fact: In your lifetime you will eat 50 tonnes of food and produce 3
tonnes of poo :)