US Farm Exports to Cuba Set to Grow. Agriculture experts say U.S

Agriculture experts say U.S. farm exports to Cuba could more than triple in the next five years - reaching $1 billion - and support thousands of new U.S. jobs.

Farmers and government officials told the U.S. Senate Finance Committee recently, however, that both Washington and Havana must remove more legal, logistical, and financial obstacles to reach this goal.

President Barack Obama recently eased restrictions on trade and travel to Cuba and allowed Cuban-Americans to send larger amounts of money to their families on the communist-ruled island. But Obama can’t end the decades-old trade embargo against Cuba without congressional approval.

Major resistance

There is strong opposition to ending the embargo or taking other steps to ease restrictions from some Cuban-American members of Congress who call such steps “appeasement” of dictators and a threat to U.S. security.

They argue that expanded trade would support a hostile authoritarian government far more than it helps Cuban consumers.

An expert on relations between Cuba and the United States, New York University's Arturo Lopez-Levy, disagrees with these critics, but he said it may take several years to fully normalize relations between the former Cold War adversaries.

Cuba could be a much larger business opportunity for U.S. farm products because the island imports about 80 percent of the food consumed by its 11 million people, according to Michael Scuse of the U.S. Agriculture Department.

Scuse and other witnesses said Cuba buys food from distant lands like Vietnam, New Zealand, the European Union, Canada, Brazil, and Argentina. That rice, wheat, corn, milk, and fruit is available from the United States with lower shipping costs, giving Cuban consumers a price break, and leaving more room for farmers to profit.

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