9/01/02

Virginia farm and forestry products may have a major new overseas market, and farm leaders are excited at the prospect.
An opportunity to develop new export opportunities is coming Sept. 26 through 30 at the U.S. Food and Agriculture Exposition in Havana, Cuba.
The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services will have a trade pavilion at the event to showcase farm and forestry products available for export from the Old Dominion. Perdue Farms Inc. and Smithfield Foods Inc., among others, are considering booths at the expo, sources said.
“Cubans currently purchase corn, rice, wheat, soybeans and soy products, dairy cattle, poultry, pork and pork products, powdered milk, vegetable oil, apples, peas, eggs, lumber, plywood and a variety of forest products,” said Bruce L. Hiatt, president of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation.
“Any of these products could just as easily be exported from Virginia,” he said.
“Virginians could offer Cubans high-quality products with the advantage of a low-cost transportation system that includes a port in Norfolk unrivaled in the world.”
In 2000, Virginia exported more than $3 billion worth of tobacco, wood products, chicken, pork, beef and grains, primarily from the Port of Hampton Roads.
According to a recent report from Texas A&M University, Virginia is currently deprived of up to $11.4 million in agricultural exports to Cuba due to a decades-old trade embargo by the United States.
Cuba currently consumes more than $1 billion in agricultural commodities each year, and 25 other states already have trade agreements with the Cuban government, Hiatt said. Those states include some of Virginia’s strongest agricultural competitors, such as Georgia, Maryland, Oklahoma, Texas and Washington.
“This is a chance for Virginia farmers and agribusiness companies to be the first to sell to a country that’s been closed to us for decades,” Hiatt said. “A Virginia trade agreement with Cuba could boost decades of declining farm prices, increase the utilization of our ports, and provide improvements to the standard of living in that nation.
“As (Cubans’) standard of living increases, the demand for our products will increase. It’s a win-win situation for our farmers, our rural economy and the people of Cuba,” he said.