Illinois legislator sees a future in trade with Cuba
Cuban farmers have a friend in Congresswoman Cheri Bustos. So do Illinois farmers.
Back from a three-day trip to Cuba (Oct. 11-14), the Illinois Democrat has been touring her district, addressing farm organizations and individual farmers, extolling the opportunities for trade with the island once the 55-year U.S. economic blockade has been lifted.
At all times, she has the interests of the Illinois farmers close to her heart.
“I look forward to working on a bipartisan basis to encourage economic reforms in Cuba, such as moving to a single currency and expanding private enterprise, which will ensure Illinois and the Cuban people benefit from increased trade,” she wrote in her website after her return.
“I am also committed to helping the Illinois Cuba Working Group establish an office in Cuba which would be a major step to improving and sustaining trade relations.”
Bustos went to Cuba as part of a bipartisan agricultural trade mission to establish new economic development and export opportunities for Illinois farmers.
Trade mission participants included executives from Chicago Foods International, the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, the Illinois Farm Bureau, the Illinois Corn Marketing Board, the Illinois Soybean Association, and Maschoff Farms.
In Cuba, they met with officials of the Cuban National Association of Small Farmers; Ofelia Ortega, a member of the National Assembly; Gustavo MachÌn, deputy director of the U.S. Division of the Foreign Ministry; Marcelino Medina, deputy Foreign Minister; and Ileana Núñez Mordoche, deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment.
The trade mission also toured a Cuban farm cooperative and Port Mariel.
The tour “gave me valuable firsthand insight into how the Cuban economy operates and what it will take to ramp up Illinois’ agricultural exports,” Bustos wrote. “While we have made real progress in the last year toward improving bilateral trade relations with Cuba, we still have a lot of work to do to cut through the red tape that holds back our family farmer’s ability to export.”
According to the Illinois Cuba Working Group, Illinois corn and soy exports to Cuba reached approximately $66 million in 2008. However, in 2014, it was just $24 million, a 63-percent decrease. That’s a situation that Bustos wants to reverse.
On a visit to Taylor Ridge this week, she was told by Mercer County Farm Bureau president Jeff Kirwan that exporting to Cuba could help the local farmers’ incomes.
“We just need to keep continuing to find homes for our product, so this is just another opportunity,” Kirwan told her. “It may not increase a whole bunch, but weíve had some pretty good production the last few years so we need to continue to find markets for it.”
Bustos told the farmers that “we hope to look for opportunities for John Deere, one of our major employers in this area, so this is really about jobs and the economy.”
The John Deere Company, based in Moline, manufactures agriculture, construction and forestry machinery. Bustos also referred to the possibilities in Cuba for Caterpillar Inc., based in Peoria, a well-known manufacturer of construction machinery.
“I plan to look at legislation that would open lines of credit for Cubans,” Bustos said. “Right now, it has to be a cash transaction. It has to be paid in advance for them to buy any of our agricultural products. That does not bode well for increased exports.”
Gary Rosenbohm, a corn-and-soybean farmer in Glasford, agreed with Bustos.
“We’ve got to give them access to capital,” he said about the Cubans. “Overall, we’ve got to increase exports. They’re only 90 miles away. Why not start here?”
