Dr Julia Wright:

Sustainable agriculture and food security in an era of oil scarcity: how Cuba coped and what can we learn from this?

Julia Wright

Cuba is commonly depicted as having survived a sudden and drastic cut in its fuel and food supplies through turning to organic farming. Is this actually true? At the end of the 1990s, Julia Wright undertook the only systematic and scientific evaluation of the Cuba farming and food system to see if this was the case. Her results show that Cuban farming is not organic, but also identify the coping strategies that emerged to ensure food security across the nation in a petroleum-scarce situation. Most significantly, the food system was forced to relocalise, and Cuba’s successes and challenges provide lessons for us all to learn from.

Strand: Sustainable Food Production & Distribution

Type of event: powerpoint presentation with discussion

Place: Room 2 upstairs in Primary School

Starts: 12:30

Ends: 13:30

Presenter's Personal/Professional Background: Dr Julia Wright

Head of Programmes at Garden Organic, Ryton

Julia Wright has worked for 25 years in international agricultural development with a focus on organic agriculture and food security. In 1998 she commenced her PhD thesis at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, on post-petroleum farming and food systems in Cuba. For the last 6 years she has worked at Garden Organic in Warwickshire (formerly the Henry Doubleday Research Association) where she ran the International Programme and is currently Head of Programmes. Julia is also trustee of the Bioregional Development Group and POM 354, and on the steering committee of Canalside Community Foods CSA in Leamington.

Organisation: Gardening Organic, the national organisation for organic gardeners

Email: jwright@bananahill.net

Website: http://www.earthscan.co.uk/?tabid=26741

Recommended links: http://www.earthscan.co.uk/?tabid=26741