State Feels Sting of 40-year-old Cuba
Policy
LITTLE ROCK—The 40-year-old U.S. embargo
of Cuba has affected Arkansas farmers and ranchers more adversely than any other
state, a recently publicized study shows.
U.S. Rep. Vic Snyder and the Cuban Policy
Foundation held a joint press conference in the Capitol Rotunda in Little Rock
Feb. 15 to spotlight the study, done by Texas A&M University.
It showed that as long as the embargo is
in place, Arkansas is deprived of a potential $167 million in annual
agricultural exports to Cuba. If the embargo is lifted, the state can realize an
economic output of over $503 million. That is almost double the potential of the
second-most affected state, California.
Farm Bureau - Arkansas President David
Hillman of Almyra in the state’s Delta spoke at the conference.
"Arkansas is a great fit for doing
business with Cuba.," he said. "Their number-one need is rice, and Arkansas is
the largest rice-producing state.
"Their number-two need is chicken, and we
are the second largest broiler producer. They also need wheat and soybean
products, both of which are big crops in Arkansas.
"Given the opportunity to trade, Arkansas
would be in position to meet Cuba’s needs immediately."
The study suggests that over $137 million
worth of Arkansas rice can be exported to Cuba annually. Poultry sales will
exceed $14 million; soybeans and soy products will be worth $5.3 million;
softwood logs, $3.7 million; wheat, $2.7 million; and cotton, $1 million.
U.S. Reps. Synder, Mike Ross and John
Boozeman all supported lifting the trade sanctions. U.S. Sen. Blanche L. Lincoln
again expressed her support in a short video played to a gathering of federal,
state, business and agriculture dignitaries, plus local and national media.
Neither U.S. Sen. Tim Hutchinson nor U.S. Rep Marion Berry attended the event,
but offered their support, as well. (Berry had traveled to Cuba with Lincoln and
a group of Farm Bureau leaders two years ago.)
Morrill Harriman of Arkansas Poultry
Federation and Ron Russell of Arkansas Chamber of Commerce both attended and
enthusiastically endorsed lifting the embargo as soon as possible.
Hillman also read a letter of support for
removing the trade sanctions from Gov. Mike Huckabee.
The press conference followed a Jan.
30–Feb. 2 Cuban Trade Conference that Farm Bureau - Arkansas cosponsored. That
gathering was put together by a number of organizations, including the
Cuban Policy Foundation, eight state Farm Bureaus and American Farm Bureau.
Former Ambassador Sally Grooms Cowal, CPF
president, led the Little Rock press conference. Her statement said, in part,
"With the numbers in this report, I challenge the pro-embargo lobby to tell
farmers that it is right to make them bear the economic burden of a policy that
has failed for 40 years.
"That argument won’t pass moral muster,
and now it won’t pass political muster either—not when farmers hurt most by the
embargo are states like Arkansas, California, Texas, Illinois, and Iowa.
" This report will accelerate momentum on
Capitol Hill, which is already significant, for changing U.S. policies toward
Cuba. These numbers are an economic and political double-whammy of a kind that
the pro-embargo lobby has never faced before."
Farm Bureau - Arkansas has actively sought
to remove this embargo since the Lincoln-led trip to Cuba in May 2000. Meetings
with Cuban officials such as Pedro Alvarez, president of Alimport, the Cuban
agency that controls 75 percent of that nation’s agricultural trade, has helped
Arkansas remain a major factor in future U.S.-Cuba trading.
Additionally, Farm Bureau - Arkansas will
renew its ongoing relationship with Gustavo Machin and Dagoberto Rodriquez, both
with the Cuban Interest Section, Washington, DC, when county Farm Bureau
presidents travel to Washington in March. Rodriguez is the new chief of the
Cuban Interest Section, which is attached to the Swiss Embassy since Cuba has no
official presence in this country.
For More Information Contact:
Gene Martin
gene.martin@arfb.com
Box 31, Little Rock 72203
(501) 228-1330