Alabama farmers want to export more to Cuba
By Marty Roney, USA TODAY
JASPER, Ala. — Dorman Grace looks over his north Alabama farm and wonders how
chickens may play a role in ending the trade embargo between Cuba and the United
States.

Grace, a third-generation poultry and cattle farmer, and others like him, are
already able to do business with Cuba under a law passed by Congress in 2000
allowing the sale of humanitarian and agricultural products to the island
nation, which slightly eased the trade embargo in place since 1962.

Since the law began to be implemented in 2001, Cuba has imported about $1.55
billion in goods from the United States, according to the U.S.-Cuba Trade and
Economic Council. The Cuban market is large: The nation imports half to
two-thirds of its staples, according to a July U.S. International Trade
Commission report.

Alabama has been aggressively taking advantage since 2003.

The U.S. Commerce Department estimates Cuba will import $300 million to $350
million in goods from the USA this year. Alabama will provide about a third of
that, at $100 million to $120 million in goods, according to the state's
Department of Agriculture and Industries.

That's consistent with recent history. Alabama businesses exported $100 million
or more of goods to Cuba in each of the past three years, according to state
figures.

A 2005 Texas A&M study showed Arkansas leading the nation with exports to Cuba,
with an estimated $167 million in trade a year. Alabama was second at $120
million, followed by California ($98 million), Iowa ($71 million) and Texas ($54
million). Many Alabama farmers would like to see that business expand further.

"It's a global world we live in," says Grace, 51, whose farm produces about
110,000 chickens a year. "We need markets for what we produce. Unlike the
American market, the Cuban market prefers dark meat, so that's beneficial. We
trade with countries around the world. Why not Cuba?"

Last year, 66% of the wheat imported by Cuba came from the USA. Other staples
imported included: corn, 71%; rice, 77%; poultry, 65%; pork, 42%; soybeans,
100%; and animal feed, 76%, according to a July U.S. International Trade
Commission report.

The effort has even reached state-controlled media in Cuba. The Granma daily
newspaper, which on its website proclaims it the "Official Organ of the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba," is printed on newsprint made at three
south Alabama paper mills, according to Ron Sparks, Alabama's commissioner of
Agriculture and Industries.

Grace has worked with Sparks since he was elected commissioner in 2002 on
increasing trade with Cuba.

"When I was elected to my first term, the poultry farmers in the state were in a
bind. Agriculture as a whole was in a bind," Sparks says. "We needed to expand
our markets. Cuba is a natural trading partner. Cuba only raises 30% of what
they eat. There are 11 million people in Cuba who need to eat."

Sparks says he knows many people disagree with his position.

"There's a lot of folks in South Florida who have a different opinion than I
do," he says. "I hope they see we are trying to make it better for the Cuban
people. We're not selling them bullets or tanks or aircraft. We are selling them
peanut butter, syrup and shingles."

Sales have been somewhat limited by requirements that Cuba make the payments in
full before shipments leave American ports.

Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez said earlier this year that it would be
"naive" to think that easing trade restrictions would improve conditions in
Cuba. He spoke about the embargo at a Council of the Americas meeting in
Washington.

"The question is not when will the U.S. change its policy. The question is when
will the Cuban regime change its policy," he said. "Years of foreign investment
have not improved the lives of average Cubans, only the lives of those in
power."

Many Alabama farmers, however, see trade as a positive for both countries.

"I love my country, and I think capitalism holds the most promise for the
world," says Sam Peak, who owns about 300 acres of timberland in central
Alabama. He sells trees through a broker to Cahaba Pressure Treated Forest
Products in Brierfield, Ala. The company sells poles and lumber products to
Cuba.

"Who knows, maybe expanded trade with Cuba could lay the groundwork for real
change in that country," Peak says. "Sooner or later, the markets in Cuba, all
the markets, are going to open up."

Roney reports for The Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser.



Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2007-07-29-alabama-cuba-exports_N.htm


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WALTER LIPPMANN
Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
writer - photographer - activist
http://www.walterlippmann.com
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