Center for International Policy

January 29, 2008

N.D.: Ag Commissioner Heads to Cuba
By James MacPherson
Associated Press

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson is making another trip to Cuba next month to push the state's farm products.

Johnson says it will be his seventh trip in the past seven years pitching the state's commodities. He said the state has sold about $30 million worth of peas and lentils to Cuba since 2001. But he said a deal he helped broker last year that would have sent 100 tons of seed potatoes to Cuba has languished.

Rules have not been crafted to deal with potato food-safety issues that ensure the commodity is disease and insect-free, Johnson said.

"It's disappointing," Johnson said. U.S. regulators "are still dithering around with the protocol it's hard to say where the block is."

The United States established a trade embargo with Cuba in 1962, but Congress passed a law in 2001 allowing cash sales of U.S. agricultural goods and medicine to Cuba.

Johnson said he had hoped that the potatoes would have been sent in the fall, in time for farmers there to plant this spring. He remains hopeful the seed potatoes will be shipped this fall.

It would be the first time Cuba has bought U.S. seed potatoes, Johnson said.

An 18-member delegation made up mostly of representatives of the North Dakota potato industry will make the trip on Feb. 18, and return about five days later. The trip will highlight the state's potatoes but other commodities also will be pitched, Johnson said.

Trade with Cuba will be tougher this year because of the rising prices of farm commodities, he said.

"There could be significant problems paying these prices because they don't have a lot of spare cash," Johnson said. "Whether they get it from us, they won't be getting it cheaper from anyone else."

Duane Maatz, president of the Northern Plains Potato Growers Association, said potatoes are a commodity that hasn't seen a huge increase in price such as wheat and corn.

Maatz said getting approval to ship potatoes from North Dakota to Cuba could drag on for years. He said it took four years to ship the state's spuds to Brazil.

"It's going to take a little time," he said.

State Seed Department Commissioner Ken Bertsch is slated to make the trip to Cuba next month. He said such things as transportation and the specific types of potatoes that the Cubans want to buy still must be worked out.

"There are technicalities in trading with a country (on commodities) that we haven't traded with before that we need to get a handle on," Bertsch said. He called them small hurdles.

Price may be a bigger factor, he said.

"I wouldn't expect out producers to sell potatoes to Cuba at a discount just because it's Cuba," he said. North Dakota potato farmers "still have to make some money."