Translator: Paula E Reviewer: Sebastian Betti
What an inspiration it is to wake every new day in this place.
A project inspired by the memory of my mother, Martha M. Fernandez,
who spent much of her life developing agroecology in Cuba and the world.
Actually the project we're doing is to reinvent Cuban agriculture
using our own experience.
This experience must combine rural wisdom with scientific knowledge.
I completed this doctoral thesis in Wageningen Uni, Holland, 7 years ago.
The title was "Farming like we're here to stay".
In other words, an agricultural system which doesn't quit.
That was the fundamental inspiration behind this thesis.
However, at that time
I didn't really understand what I wanted to say with this concept.
Some years later I understood that farming like we're here to stay
was much more than the experiments I had done in my professional life.
It was nothing less than a commitment to the land where we live,
Cuba.
It has been an attempt to reinvent ourselves.
Our family has taken the decision to move to the countryside,
to face up to big challenges,
to take an opportunity to dream, to feel passionate,
to be excited, to experience another way to develop our country and farming.
We had to move far away from the comfortable city life,
particularly from my established professional life.
To start this journey was really exhilarating.
It was something in which we could completely throw ourselves.
Like digging this well in the rock which took 7 months, and is a metaphor
for ecological farming, for healthy farming,
thriving, huge, and abundant, promoting health,
and contributing to a better world.
It's the commitment to dig a well 14 metres in the rock by hand.
There is someone who has been a great inspiration for us.
He has been our constant guide in this journey.
This man, who is over there, I can introduce to you.
Juan Machado.
(Applause)
Juan Machado is a symbol for us,
a symbol of the connection with the Cuban countryside.
With the never ending work of the farmers
who have entrusted into their hands this sacred land of Cuba.
Together with him, we have worked the land.
Together with him, we dug the well.
And, together with him, we have dreamed of a better future.
Juan Muchado, 77 years, is very optimistic about the future of agriculture,
and the future of our nation.
We've been on this journey now for several years.
At the beginning of the '90s my parents and I
founded the Cuban Movement for Organic Agriculture and Agroecology (MCAO).
This was the management group of an association
that dreamed of an organic future for Cuban agriculture;
an agroecological future.
A future that was fair and equitable
and that worked the land for the health of the Cuban people.
Organic agriculture and agroecology in Cuba grew
and has been the inspiration not only for many people in Cuba
but also many people elsewhere.
We are a light showing the way for others.
Many people in the world
see us as an example
of the transformation of an agroecological model
on a countrywide scale.
All of us who have been involved in this transformation truly deserved
the alternative Nobel Prize,
presented in the Swedish parliament in 1999.
Through all this time it's been more about inspiration
lead by necessity.
[Integrated model of food and energy]
This diagram makes me think of the scale of an integrated system,
an agriculture and food system.
In this case, a model for food and energy.
But agriculture is much more than this
Agriculture is a passion, as I've already said,
it's love, it's family,
it's environment, it's a frog,
it's a butterfly, it's a flower.
There's no better way
to achieve this transformation than to get involved at a practical level.
To do it with your own hands.
To combine traditional knowledge with scientific knowledge,
with this shared heritage we have.
And continuing along this journey,
we have learned how to make a biodigestor to make biogas
and for a long time now we have been cooking for many people
using the biogas which we have produced.
Also, we have learned to be beekeepers
to grow flowers and to produce lots
with high productivity, with a high yield,
with great efficiency.
Because, for me, as you can imagine,
it's a personal project, a family project, a project for society,
but also a professional project.
And this is the result.
A harmonious and beautiful result,
which we are a part of.
We are trying to design diverse and varied landscapes
that give us the strength to continue moving forward.
There are four essential words,
four magic words
that I have written down on this paper.
One is resolve,
another is the resources that we have,
another is opportunity and the other is knowledge.
These four key words
combined with the solidarity we can have with other people
and the results of co-operation between us all.
Talking of a co-operative
we don't belong to the co-operative
but the co-operative belongs to us.
We are all involved in a transformation
to achieve this beauty,
this landscape and the vast, abundant production
we all need
and that promotes health.
So that we can use the resources we have, like solar energy.
So that we can deliver them directly to consumers
and we can enhance the relationship between consumers and producers.
So that we can increase agrotourism
to finance agricultural practices.
So that we can promote a sufficient standard of living for farmers,
to improve their quality of their life
and satisfy their spiritual and material needs.
It's a new dawn at Finca Marta, it's another new day
and there we will be fighting for the future of Cuban agriculture.
We have one thought, and it is:
How can we achieve this future for Cuban agriculture?
In fact, there is no formula for this.
Travellers, there is no path, you make the path by walking.
Thank you very much.
(Applause)