Mauricio Betancourt

Mauricio Betancourt

Environmental Sociologist, Ph.D.

Selected talks and presentations

Cuban Agroeoclogy and the Metabolic Rift: A Comparative Study of Agricultural Productivity in Latin America and the Caribbean (1961-2015)

March 21, 2021

Talk, Pacific Sociological Association's 92nd Annual Conference, Virtual

I discuss how the yield of maize and beans has increased in Cuba after 1991, following the adoption of agroecology, despite utilizing less than 70% synthetic fertilizer, on average, than in the period 1961-1990. In addition, this has been achieved in the same agricultural area, all of which points to agroecology’s potential for soil restoration and the mitigation of the metabolic rift in agriculture.

Radical Responses to the Environmental Crisis

November 23, 2020

Talk, Global Justice Center, Virtual

Along with Prof. Victor Wallis and Prof. Fred Magdoff, I discuss how climate change has brought about a multi-pronged environmental crisis that is getting worse every day. We also talk about how we can transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy and restore biodiversity, as well as what will it take for environmental movements to force changes in governmental and corporate policies.

Improving soil quality: A time series comparison of agroecology and industrial agriculture in Latin America and the Caribbean

August 03, 2020

Talk, Ecological Society of America, Virtual

This reserach makes a longitudinal, cross-national comparison of agricultural practices in Latin America and the Caribbean (1961-2015), examining the relationship between synthetic fertilizer use and yield, and finding that agroecology seems to have improved soil quality in Cuba, the country where this approach to food production is more widespread.