US agriculture has big appetite for Cuba trade

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By STEVE KARNOWSKI

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — U.S. agriculture has a big appetite for freer trade with Cuba. From wheat to rice to beans, the industry stands to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of President Barack Obama's plan to ease economic and travel restrictions imposed against the communist-ruled island.

Agricultural exports have been among the few exceptions to the half-century old U.S. trade embargo, though they've been subject to cumbersome rules — requiring cash payments up front before products are shipped, and that the payments go through banks in other countries that charge hefty fees for their services.

As a result, Latin American and Asian countries with fewer restrictions and easier financing have gained market share in recent years.

The removal of such trade barriers will make U.S. agricultural products "far more price competitive" in Cuba, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday as the Obama administration announced plans to restore diplomatic relations and to try to persuade Congress to lift the embargo.

FULL story at link.



FILE - In this Aug. 16, 2012 file photo, a combine cuts rice in a field near Tucker, Ark. U.S. agriculture has a big appetite for freer trade with Cuba, and rice producers in southern states and California are hoping to resume exports to Cuba for the first time since 2008. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20141219/us-united-states-cuba-agriculture-cd08146f16.html

[alarimer]

1. Big Ag benefits; workers lose.

Just like Mexico and Central American following NAFTA.

[Divernan]

2. How will Cuba deal with GMO crops? Here's one read on that from the Havana Times

LET'S SAY NO TO TRANSGENIC AG IN CUBA (headline)

http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=96858

HAVANA TIMES — Genetically modified crops continue to be introduced into Cuban farmlands in a secretive fashion, while domestic consumers and producers are practically left out of all debates surrounding the design of policies and strategies in this area.

A program broadcast on Cuban television some weeks ago, where two of the most renowned figures currently leading the debate around these technologies appeared, does not seem to guarantee that the island’s authorities are aware of the urgent need to cease the use and propagation, at production scales, of transgenic corn and soy, organisms which, outside the controlled environment of the laboratory, no farmer around the world has been able to contain.

The series of debates undertaken by a number of intellectual circles in Havana over a year ago served only to put the business of transgenic crops in the hands of the Cuban military. As we know, the Cuban Armed Forces have every freedom to do and undo what they please, without having to report to the common people or to civil, educational or research institutions.

While it is true that we don’t want the debate surrounding transgenic organisms to polarize people into those who are completely in favor and those who are completely opposed to the practice, something which would simply paralyze the flow and development of ideas and of science itself, it is also true that, without a moratorium that can allow us to delve more deeply into the issue and arrive at a basic consensus, all discussions will be fruitless.

A group of US intellectuals, who became aware of these circumstances while participating at a colloquium in Cuba, issued a public declaration on the issue. This Monday, a small group of Cubans issued another declaration, in support of that statement, which is being distributed to collect more signatures.

Read the declaration at the above link:

FOR TRANSGENIC-FREE AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES IN CUBA

[flamingdem]

10. Very important! Thanks for the article n/t

[mountain grammy]

3. Maybe it'll offset the losses big Ag will feel from food stamp cuts

so that'll work well for them.

[Sunlei]

4. cargo and people that used to fly directly over 'ignored' cuba may be able to stop there soon.

That will be good news for both economies

[hunter]

5. That's terrible news for Cuba's farmers and Cuba itself.

It's a rough ride going from more sustainable community and family farming, to unemployment, serfdom, migration to city slums, or emigration to other nations to join the lowest-of-the-low abused and working poor.

I hope Cubans can are able to keep what is wonderful about their nation, and not abandon all of it for cheap corn and consumer goods.

[Johnyawl]

6. ..."sustainable community and family farming" is not feeding Cuba.

If you read the article it's obvious that Cuba is already importing a significant share of their food, just not from the US. Getting rid of the embargo will allow US Agribusiness to compete on an equal footing with agribusiness from other countries.

I think the Cuban people will do pretty much what the Chinese and Vietnamese people have done, which is to throw away much that you think is wonderful about their country for the opportunity to live in the 21st century. The desire for cheap consumer goods, especially electronics, fashion and hip hop will make slaves of us all.

[hunter]

8. "Agribusiness" is already multinational.

The opportunities here for Cuban or "American" Farmers are not what they seem.

The post NAFTA disruption of indigenous Mexican farming communities has been brutal.

Improvements in economic and agricultural "productivity" do not "trickle down" to low income people in societies with great disparities of political power and wealth. Low income people often end up worse.

In societies where it's difficult to implement steeply progressive taxation, expansion of Big Agriculture causes immense suffering.

[Johnyawl]

9. Yes, Agribusiness is already multinational...and already doing business in Cuba

Getting rid of the embargo allows US based Agribusiness to compete on an equal footing with European and SA based agribusiness, and will allow US agricultural products to be shipped directly to Cuba. How much that damages small farmers in Cuba will depend on the policies of the Cuban government.

[Omaha Steve]

7. Cuba's big crop was sugar and the US has a surplus of sugar as is

Looks like their other goods would have a chance for lots of trade with the US.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/145542/Cuba/54403/Agriculture-forestry-and-fishing

The Cuban economy has depended heavily on the sugarcane crop since the 18th century. Vast areas have been leveled, irrigated, and planted in sugarcane, and yields per acre have increased with the application of fertilizers. Sugar output, except in years of drought or sugarcane blight, increased after the introduction of mechanized harvesters in the early 1970s but plunged after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. Many of the island’s sugar mills closed, and sugar production continued to decline in the early 2000s.

Apart from sugarcane, the chief crops are rice (the main source of calories in the traditional diet), citrus fruits (which are also an important export), potatoes, plantains and bananas, cassava (manioc), tomatoes, and corn (maize). Fruit trees include such citrus varieties as lemon, orange, and grapefruit; some species of the genus Annona, including the guanábana (soursop) and anón (sweetsop); and avocados and papayas. Tobacco, traditionally the country’s second most important export crop, is grown mainly in the Pinar del Río area in the west and also in the centre of the main island. Coffee grows mainly in the east, where Guantánamo city is known as the “coffee capital” of Cuba. Other products include cacao and beans. Cuba imports large amounts of rice and other foodstuffs, oilseeds, and cotton.

Cattle, pigs, and chickens are the main livestock. The number of cattle increased in the 1960s, as veterinary services advanced and irrigation systems improved, but decreased over subsequent decades. Brahman (zebu) cattle, the dominant breed, thrive in the tropical climate but yield low amounts of milk. Holstein cattle are more productive but prone to illness in the Cuban environment. Cuban farmers raise approximately half as many pigs as cattle.

The supply of Cuban timber is limited. Pine trees are found throughout the country, and durable mahogany is of potential economic importance, while ebony (Diospyros) and granadilla (cocus, or West Indian ebony; Brya ebenus) provide beautiful and valuable wood.

Fishing resources are significant on the coast and at sea. Among the types of fish caught locally are tuna, hake, and needlefish. The overall volume of fish, crustaceans, and other seafood landed increased sevenfold during the period 1959–79, largely because the government, with the help of Soviet financing, invested heavily in fishing vessels and processing plants. Landings subsequently decreased from the late 1980s to the late 1990s, after the breakup of the Soviet Union caused reduced funding. By the early 21st century, Cuba had diversified its fishing activities to include aquaculture (sea bream, sea bass, tilapia, and carp). It also increased the number of processing plants, especially for shrimp and lobster, with foreign investment from Canada and European Union countries.

[hack89]

11. Cuba imports 80% of their domestic food requirements

their present agriculture model is a huge failure if self sufficiency is the goal.

https://www.wfp.org/countries/cuba

[okaawhatever]

12. They import 80% of their food. Cuba doesn't have too many farmers or family farming. Importing food

to an island country is always expensive, if they are importing from a state only 90 miles away it will benefit their residents with lower food costs.

Also, the average worker in Cuba makes just $22 per month (that is the official Cuban statistic, others claim that number is high). The "abused and working poor" make more than that. Viva la whatever.

[hunter]

13. Cuba is not Hawaii, not an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

My own part of world exports food to really remote and barren places; places like mid-winter Minnesota, thousands of miles away; places where nothing grows in the winter.

I do know when small farmers are displaced, even here in the U.S.A., without providing for employment, and without preserving local knowledge of farming practices and local plant varieties , then EVERYBODY loses, most especially the displaced farmers.

Much of the U.S.A. has been transformed into industrial agriculture wasteland, and it's populated by people who have no trouble torturing animals or people they regard as inferior in some way.