Two themes run through this lecture: one describing the backdrop to the food crisis that hit Cuba in the early 1990’s, and the coping strategies of the food and farming sector as they struggled to deal with this; whilst the other charts the ups and downs of undertaking research in a context of uncertainty. The widely held perspective that Cuba turned to organic farming is questioned, and implications of the Cuban experience for food security in other countries is explored, particularly in relation to notions of peak oil.

Dr Julia Wright is Senior Research Fellow in Agroecological Futures in the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience. She has worked on sustainable agriculture and food security applied research and development projects for almost 30 years. Julia specialises in capacity and resilience building of vulnerable groups to natural and man-made disasters, regeneration of the natural resource base, and low-carbon systems. 

The Nexus project is investigating how climate change and future energy availability could affect food and farming in Northern Ireland, and explores ways government agencies, businesses, voluntary organisations, and researchers can work together to address these challenges. For further information please contact Wayne Foord - email: w.foord@qub.ac.uk

Wayne Foord
Research Fellow - Nexus Project
w.foord@qub.ac.uk
Tel. 028 90971498
School of Social Sciences, Education & Social Work
Queens University Belfast