HAVANA: As the United States and Cuba begin to improve relations, Indiana farmers said they are hoping to find a new market in the Caribbean nation.
In late September, a group of Indiana and Michigan organizations traveled to Cuba to explore trading options, said Bob White, an agricultural business specialist for the Indiana Farm Bureau’s public policy team.
“We wanted to see what the lay of the land was, so to speak, as far as trading,” White said. “There are other countries that are trading with Cuba, and the way the regulations are being eased in the U.S., it’s likely that in (a) few years Cuba will be a trading partner with the U.S.”
The trip came after President Obama began to ameliorate the U.S.’s relationship with Cuba last December.
“The prospects for U.S.-Cuba agricultural trade depend on what policy measures the Cuban government takes to foster further economic growth and development,” a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service said. “A status quo scenario, in which the government does little to modify its economic policies to complement the updated U.S. policy approach, is likely to result in some growth in U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba.”
But farmers shouldn’t count on anything changing soon. White said the embargo has to be lifted, which he doesn’t expect to happen soon.
“It won’t happen in (the) next 18 months because of the will of the Congress,” White said.
White said one roadblock to better relations with Cuba is the credit system.
“The U.S. banking system has to agree with the Cuban banking system on credit,” he said.
White said if you’re a “U.S. citizen or willing to do business, you have to have cash.”
White also said he doesn’t think Monroe County will be affected quite yet.
“For Indiana, specifically Monroe County, the travel restrictions being lifted will be the specific benefit,” he said.
He said he expects restrictions on individual travel to be removed in one to three years.
It’s not just the U.S. that would benefit. Cubans are willing to trade with the U.S., according to White.
“Most Cubans down there live on anywhere from 24 to 35 dollars a month,” White said. “They’re still a happy people … they know what trading was like prior to the embargo … they want to trade.”
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