Trying to Open Cuban Trade. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture.
A bill that would allow easier export of agricultural goods to Cuba is in a holding pattern until September, but when Congress heads home for the August recess, farmers and ranchers plan to stress why lawmakers should make it happen.
GARZA: It's great policy. Unfortunately the bill is caught up in the politics of the issue. There are still many members out there, particularly those from Florida, who see any easing of the embargo as a gift to the Castros. This is not the case. This bill is about increasing U.S. agricultural exports. We have to get beyond the politics of this issue do what is right for our farmers, U.S. citizens as well as the people of Cuba.
American Farm Bureau Trade Specialist Chris Garza says the bill would streamline the process for selling agricultural goods to Cuba.
GARZA: This bill is not about opening up the U.S. market to Cuba. This bill is about moving the restrictions that we have placed on our own farmers to be able to export to Cuba. There is nothing for us to lose here. This is a gain-gain situation, a gain for U.S. farmers and a gain for the people of Cuba to be able to have quality food on their tables that come from U.S. farmers.
And Garza says that's not just good for U.S. farmers and ranchers, but also the U.S. economy as a whole.
GARZA: If we can increase our trade it means we're selling more. If we're selling more, we're increasing U.S. jobs. It is not just about U.S. farmers selling their corn or their poultry. It's about the jobs that are created from selling more of that product, whether it's the transportation sector or whether it's the port, whether it's the processing of these products. The more we export, the more jobs we create.
Garza explains what legislation on exports to Cuba would and wouldn't do.
GARZA: This does not allow any agricultural product or any trade from Cuba into the United States. This is purely a one-way bill that helps us to increase our agricultural exports as well as all the economic factors that surround increasing exports like jobs and helping the overall U.S. economy.
Garza says the old political arguments about Cuba are antiquated.
GARZA: I think it's time to start looking at new options and how can we truly affect the views of democracy in Cuba, and reaching out and having contact with them, whether it's through food from U.S. farmers or whether it's contact directly from U.S. citizens being able to travel to the country, that might be the new option in order to make change in Cuba.
That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.
