The most important U.S. agricultural delegation to visit
Cuba in more than a decade began three days of meetings this week, hoping to
find potential business partners, while urging politicians to lift the U.S.
trade embargo.
Two former agriculture secretaries, a number of state
agriculture officials and representatives of various state farm bureaus are
among the 95 people making the trip, which was organized by the U.S.
Agriculture Coalition for Cuba. That group was formed after the Dec. 17
announcement the U,S. would restore diplomatic relations with Cuba.
"The message we hope will get back to Washington is
that we are a unifying voice that would like to see Congress act in 2015 and
end the embargo," Cargill executive Devry Boughner Vorwerk, chairwoman of
the coalition, said in an interview.
The coalition says U.S. farmers are hungry for a $2 billion
market so close to home and frustrated by U.S. restrictions.
The United States created an embargo exception in 2000 to
allow food sales, but it still denies Cuba credit, forcing it to pay cash up
front.
U.S. food sales to Cuba fell in 2014 to $291 million, from a
peak of $710 million peak in 2008. The coalition wants U.S. exports to top $1
billion, about half the value of Cuba's food imports today.
U.S. farmers can renew corn, wheat and rice exports to Cuba,
which have fallen sharply, while importers want to explore Cuban seafood,
winter vegetables, citrus and tobacco, coalition members said. There was
particular interest in high-margin organic products from Cuba.
The U.S. news reports say nothing about allowing Cuban sugar
into the highly-subsidized and highlty-tariff-protected U.S. market.
Open U.S. trade with Cuba would impact Canada’s agriculture
and food industry in a number of ways, such as competition for grain exports
and a potential loss of U.S. markets for Canadian cookies that enjoy a competitive
advantage because Canadians can buy sugar at much lower prices than their U.S.
competitors.
While President Barack Obama has loosened some trade and
travel restrictions, most of the embargo remains in place and can only be ended
by Congress, now in Republican control.
The Republicans have been opposing anything Obama wants,
almost regardless of the merits of the case.
