With just 103 miles between the American and Cuban coasts, the island nation represents a growth opportunity the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) does not want to lose.
Following President Donald Trump’s announcement of changes to U.S. policy on Cuba, AFBF President Zippy Duvall urged the administration to tread lightly in making new rules for doing business with Cuba that would limit U.S. agricultural export opportunities.
“We should be doing more, not less, to encourage U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba. Our farmers and ranchers and the Cuban people would benefit from increased sales of high-quality, American-grown food and feed,” Duvall said. “The American Farm Bureau will continue to work with the administration and Congress to maintain and improve the conditions for agricultural trade with Cuba.”
While the changes in U.S.-Cuban policy don’t directly relate to U.S. farm and ranch goods, Duvall said they likely won’t help grow U.S. agriculture’s $200 million share of the $2 billion Cuban import food market.
“Self-imposed trade restrictions have kept America’s farmers and ranchers from competing on a level playing field and have closed off one of our nearest ag export markets,” Duvall said.
Cuba has not purchased any rice or wheat from American farmers in years—a market that used to benefit Texas farmers.
“As we cope with the biggest drop in farm prices in decades, we need to be opening up markets for American farm goods, not sending signals that might lead to less access,” Duvall said.
The new policy, announced by Trump on June 16, promises to enforce both a tourism ban and embargo. It also calls for strong U.S. restrictions on American money to military, security and intelligence services that might be tied to the Castro regime.
The U.S. embassy will remain open, and Americans will still be allowed to bring items back from Cuba.
Future changes to the policy will depend on Cuba’s progress toward releasing political prisoners and ending the abuse of dissidents, jailing innocent people and opening the country to political and economic freedoms, Trump said.