Organoponico NEEM A Wandering Feast – watch video

Upcoming “NEEM Brigade and Agroecology research” in  CUBA

NEEM

May 19th – 29th - NEEM Agroecology Delegation – IX International Meeting on Organic & Sustainable Agriculture Research/workshops/site visits & research 13 days

 June 2nd – 16th – CUBA Seed to Plate – NEEM Brigade & Agroecology in Cuba with Dr. Fernando Funes/ACTAF Research/workshops & field & research 14 days. 

October – 6 – 13th - NEEM Brigade & Agroecology in Cuba with Dr. Fernando Funes/ACTAF Research/workshops & field & research. 7 days. 8 Delegates

December trip  - CUBA Seed to Plate – NEEM Agroecology Research Delegation with Dr. Fernando Funes & Chef Ensminger   14 days SOLD OUT

Program Information

Cost: $2,350, double occupancy; single occupancy supplement, $300. Conference: 

Price Includes:RT flight from Miami Saturday, Cuban visa, double hotel accommodations, two meals (Breakfast/lunch),  breakfast/lunch ea. Day M-F, translation, insurance, materials, class, transportation, and program fees under OFAC Treasury General license. If a double is not gender or count available the supplement applies. Group dinners for host, split. All transport, individual (no evening meals).

How to Register: Please send your deposit of $400 (non-refundable) with resume to: neem at mindspring.com) as soon as possible before class fills. Final payment is due no later than a month before departure. Payments by MasterCard, Discover or Visa are welcome through our travel service provider. It is important to get paperwork and deposits in too secure space. Ask for the 4 week pricing.

Contact NEEM with any questions about the program or logistics for this trip, at 919-321-6111 or e-mail: neem@mindspring.com . We look forward to hearing from you.

Jeff Ensminger, Executive Chef & Director NEEM & Bahama Organics dba Bahama-Meridian ITL neem at mindspring.com (CUBA in e-mail subject line)

Travel and visa will be arranged by NEEM & Bahama-Meridian ITL with Cuba Travel Services our Travel Service Provider, licensed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department.

Background

In the early 1990s, Cuba’s agricultural system and food supply were decimated by collapse of the Soviet Union compounded by the U.S. embargo. The then-USSR supplied the majority of Cuba’s food inputs (chemical fertilizers and pesticides, fuel for transportation, feed for farm animals, and almost 60% of Cuba’s food. Cubans refer to these years as the “Special Period”. Cuba also had to move from its historic Corporate Colonial Monoculture system to a diversified agricultural system in an effort to meet citizens’ dietary requirements.

Cuba was forced to adopt sustainable agricultural methods. Lack of chemical inputs demanded natural alternatives on a nationwide scale. Cuba is organic by default but they have embraced it, excelled and it has evolved over 20 years to the Sustainable Agroecological model. The first self-sufficient country of the 21st century.

NEEM Founder, Author, Executive Chef, Jeff Ensminger has traveled extensively in Cuba. He attended PABEXPO U.S./Cuba Agricultural Exhibition as Bahama Organics CEO, NEEM director and North Carolina delegate with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture in 2002 and led U.S. delegations to Cuba on sustainable agriculture with the recent NC Delegation in January 2011, Febuary 2012, May 2012 and the upcoming June 2012 delegation. He was awarded a certificate as an engineer in sustainable agriculture and led the last trip before People to People exchange ended in 2003. Participants in that delegation were inspired, returned in 2004 and produced the famous documentary “How Cuba survived Peak Oil”.

NEEM Executive Director and Chef  Ensminger is a long term members of the Latin America Working Group, Washington Office on Latin Affairs, ECDET and frequently in Washington on issues related to Agriculture, farm Bill, Cuba, trade, democratic values & ending the embargo. His upcoming book and documentary “Cuba Seed to Plate – A Wandering Feast” of the sustainably produced foods of Cuba; is a cause-related book with a percentage of sales going to LAWG and NEEM, both of whom share a mission with our TSP – effecting positive change!

NEEM promotes the Cuban model of urban sustainable agroecology locally, nationally, and internationally with programs through universities, cities, and communities. NEEM replicates the Cuban model because it is efficient, successful with sufficient infrastructure. Cuba and NEEM’s methodologies developed through dialectic approach and information sharing in Washington, Cuba and North Carolina since 1997.