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16 POTATO GROWER | JUNE 2017 by Tyrell Marchant | Photos courtesy Shelley Jansky Last summer, a team of USDA employees stepped off a plane in Havana, Cuba. Unremarkable at first glance, this moment signaled a profound change in U.S.-Cuba relations. The last time a USDA employee was stationed in Cuba on official business was in 1959. But with diplomatic relations restored, U.S. government agencies will once again have the opportunity to set up offices on the island. Restrictions banning U.S. citizens from traveling to Cuba had been in place for more than half a century, until President Barack Obama eased some of them in late 2014 with the restoration of diplomatic relations. With new policies in place, the number of Americans traveling to Cuba has risen sharply, up 38 percent in 2016 from the previous year. The U.S. trade embargo against Cuba remains, however, much to the chagrin of some growers and agribusinesses. The U.S. government relaxed trade restrictions in 2000 for food exports and medicine for humanitarian reasons, but Cuba has to pay for those shipments on delivery with cash. While Cuba does buy some U.S. food today, it purchases more from countries that provide credit terms to the cash-strapped nation. The inability to fully compete in the Cuban market continues to frustrate many in the U.S. ag industry. But until Congress repeals the Cuban trade embargo, the rules for agricultural exports remain in place. TRADE POTENTIAL In recent years, the U.S. agricultural community has looked at Cuba with a great deal of interest. After all, the island, just 90 miles from Miami, has 11 million residents, and in 2008 U.S. agricultural sales to Cuba peaked at $700 million. The U.S. could have a big trade advantage selling to Cuba because of its geographic proximity, and plenty of U.S. products are in demand there. "Many in agriculture are looking for ways to expand market access for our U.S. agriculture products in Cuba," says Laura Peterson, head of federal government relations at Syngenta. In addition, Cuba's agriculture industry desperately needs inputs, equipment and technical know-how. The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left Cuba's government-run farms in disarray, says Jorge Mario Sanchez Egozcue, a professor of economics at the University of Havana. It is estimated Cuba lost $6 billion in Soviet subsidies, and Sanchez says the country lost 90 percent of its energy supplies and nearly all its fertilizer imports. "The impact was equal to a tsunami or a war," he continues. "No one in the world anticipated it. Still, to this day, we are living that shock." The Cuba Effect A NEW ERA OF U.S.-CUBA RELATIONS PRESENTS OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR U.S. AGRICULTURE A NEW ERA OF U.S.-CUBA RELATIONS PRESENTS OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR U.S. AGRICULTURE An old tractor tows a large trailer in a Cuban sugarcane fi eld. A signifi cant percentage of the farm equipment in Cuba is outdated. STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN MCMAHON 16 POTATO GROWER | JUNE 2017 STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN MCMAHON