B.C.-based agronomist Wendy Holm coordinates sustainable agriculture exchanges between Cuban and Canadian farmers and also organizes a yearly tour specifically designed for chefs and foodies curious about how Cuba has emerged as a world leader in community-based agriculture, urban farming, and organic food production. …

Canadians spend up to 12 calories of non-renewable energy to produce 1 calorie of food on our dinner plate. In Cuba, the ratio is reversed.

[analysis below]

… The Cuban economic crisis in the early ’90s forced the country to grow over 80% of the fresh produce it consumes. Cubans eat only what they grow within a reasonable proximity to where they live (fuel for transport is scarce); they eat only what’s in season (energy to freeze and refrigerate is expensive and unreliable); and food is produced using labour-intensive organic farming methods (chemical inputs, which would be too expensive anyway, are unavailable, and the farms are located within the cities, so people don’t want the pollution of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides).

… Sunflowers stand at the end of beds to attract pests away from the other plants; marigolds are interspersed to control unwanted bugs. The leaves from the neem tree, soaked, macerated and mixed with lime, are sprayed as a homegrown biopesticide. A compost bin of California red wigglers turn decaying plant matter into nutrient-rich loamy soil. …

Excerpts from an article from Maclean’s Sept 3 by JENNIFER COCKRALL-KING

source: http://www.macleans.ca/culture/lifestyle/article.jsp?content=20070903_109064_109064

See also: “100 yard diet”.

Counting Calories:
Why do we spend 12 calories to produce one? Is that stated honestly?
I was going to say: “We don’t take 12 ready-to-use calories and convert them into 1 – most are untapped potential” – but just because it’s oil doesn’t mean it’s untapped – it is I suppose every bit as real a calorie as the edible calorie. If one person used 12 ready-to-use calories to produce 1 calorie, that would be inefficient – unless it’s also great exercise? If 12 support staff worked to make a Prime Minister as effective as 12 people, that would be rational (right? can you say that better?). Could this be considered rational at all? If not, how does this survive the market? Is this due entirely to the market failure of prices not reflecting true costs?

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Categories: Inspired Economies
Tags » a convenient truth | food | gardening | save the world | urban farming

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