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Agricultural Mission Heading
to Cuba
Bangor
Daily News, 11/30/2004.
AUGUSTA - Six states - including Maine
- will be vying next month for profitable
agricultural contracts when round-table
discussions begin Wednesday, Dec. 15, in
Havana, Cuba.
But Maine's leadership has a strategy:
The delegation of a dozen agricultural and
educational experts plans on arriving Sunday,
Dec. 12, to get a jump on the competition.
"We're going in early, and we already
have negotiations set for Monday [Dec. 13],"
said Doyle Marchant, president of Cedar
Springs Agricultural Co. of North Yarmouth,
who has been doing business with Cuba for
three years. "I want these deals done."
Marchant, who helped organize Maine's first
Cuban agricultural trade mission two years
ago, said Monday it is key for Maine's delegation
to "first provide a good product. Then
establish a good relationship so the Cubans
know they can trust us, and we know we can
trust them before we plant."
But, he added, "I have the ear of
the Cubans, and they want Maine's products."
In 2000, Congress amended the 40-year embargo
on trade with Cuba, allowing agricultural
products to be traded. This was followed
in March 2002 by a Maine Legislature resolution
that promoted the trade - only the second
state to do so.
The first trade mission resulted in the
shipment of bred heifers, dairy cows, eggs
and seed potatoes to Cuba.
Today more than 25 states market agricultural
products to Cuba ranging from wheat to blueberries.
Marchant has been traveling to Cuba every
eight weeks for the past three years, promoting
Maine agriculture and setting the stage
for the upcoming negotiations.
He said he was hesitant to estimate how
much profit Cuban contracts could represent
for Maine's agriculture industry, but provided
an example.
"Vermont just contracted in August
to send powdered milk to Cuba. It was a
$6 million deal," he said. "Without
a doubt, the small amount of commerce we
are already doing with Cuba is just the
tip of the iceberg."
Cuba contracted for more than $1 billion
in U.S. agricultural products over the past
three years and made timely cash payments
of $925 million to American providers, according
to data from the United Nations Foreign
Agricultural Organization.
"They are keenly interested in our
potato products," he said, "both
seed and table stock. This could develop
into something very, very substantial."
The Cubans also are interested in apples.
"Not cooking apples, but crisp apples,"
he said. "They are currently importing
eight to twelve carloads of apples a month."
"They are also looking for cattle,
purebred Holstein and Jersey breeds, and
embryos," said Marchant. "They
are embryo-smart and understand the technology,
but they are not doing too much of it because
their infrastructure is falling apart because
of the embargo."
Marchant will lead the mission along with
former Maine Gov. Kenneth Curtis and Maine
Commissioner of Agriculture Robert W. Spear.
Members of the delegation will include
representatives from the potato, apple,
dairy and maple syrup industries, as well
as Maine academia. Delegation members include:
. Apples: Jason Cooper, Cooper Brothers,
Turner.
. Dairy (embryos and livestock): Dennis
Conant and Steve Keene, Conant Acres, Canton.
. Maple Syrup: Jeremy Steeves, Strawberry
Hill Farms, Skowhegan.
. Potatoes: Seth Bradstreet III, president
of the Maine Potato Board, Bradstreet Farms,
Newport; Rodney Chamberland, Chamberland
Farms Inc., St. Agatha; Don Todd, D.E. Todd
Inc., Bangor.
University of Maine Cooperative Extension:
Mark Hutton, Highmoor Farm, Monmouth.
Spear, in a prepared statement, said he
also will use the Cuban mission to explore
options and issues for other agricultural
growers and producers in Maine.
"It is important for Maine that we
explore this new market and tap into the
potential we believe exists for Maine's
quality agricultural products, as well as
establish a proactive long-term relationship
with Cuba," Spear said. "We hope
that this is only the beginning of a relationship
between Maine's hardworking agricultural
producers and this large and relatively
untapped market."
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Record 2004 Copyright © 1995 - 2004
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