CARMI, Ill. — It wasn’t long into an Illinois farming group’s trip to Cuba that growers saw firsthand how much the Caribbean country’s ag practices lag behind those in more industrialized nations.

Divided into small urban farms and larger co-ops owned by the government, Cuba barely produces about 20 percent of all food products consumed in its own country. Growers don’t use pesticides and fertilizers; they can’t afford them. Irrigation practices aren’t abundant.

“We went to the first urban cooperative and right away, it just seemed like they were way behind compared to us,” said White County farmer Richard Gates. “They don’t have fertilizers, they don’t have chemicals. If we could begin a true trade relationship with them, they would be able to help themselves a lot more.”

Gates, Vermilion County farmer Kevin Green and DeKalb County grower Jamie Walter were among 18 Illinois producers who traveled to Cuba June 28-July 2 with the goal of improving trade relations with the island nation.

The trip was organized by the Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB), which conducts a mission each year to various countries to open trade doors more. 

Last year’s trip was to Colombia and Panama, which preceded the signing of new free trade agreements this year with those countries and with South Korea.

The United States continues its 50-year trade embargo with Cuba, although after hurricanes in 2001 and 2008 restrictions on exporting food products were eased. Illinois growers last year exported about $44 million in products to Cuba.

“It’s so cumbersome to deal with us that it makes it easy to turn to a country like Brazil, where there’s freer bilateral trade,” Walter said.

The embargo – put into place in 1962 following the Cuban Missile Crisis, with a goal of forcing a regime change that never occurred – requires Cuba to pay for goods in cash before delivery, or to secure an independent creditor to cover the costs upfront.“If the goal of the embargo was to bring about a regime change, it’s been a disaster,” said Tamara Nelsen, commodities director for the IFB. “It ought to be removed as a political pawn, and we need to move forward. Clearly the embargo has hurt the people of Cuba and the people of the U.S. the most.”

Based on recent studies, free trade with Cuba immediately would boost exports from Illinois growers by about $6.6 million annually. For all goods, the United States would stand to increase exports to Cuba by about $1.2 billion annually, Nelsen said.

The IFB delegation visited with Cuba’s Ministry of Agriculture, its import-control agency, and toured some of the urban food cooperatives and government-owned farms. “The goal of our market-study tour was to identify potential markets –potential areas where we could exchange information as well as goods – and we succeeded in that,” Green said.

He added the group was well received by everyone they met in Cuba; people were friendly and eager to know more about Americans. Growers at the cooperatives were thirsty for more knowledge about how to improve productivity.

While not a large country – Cuba has a population of about 11 million, about 2 million fewer residents than Illinois – it has a large market for grain, Gates said.

“They really want our wheat and, of course, our corn,” he said, noting Cuba doesn’t grow any corn. Its top ag product remains cigars. Rum also remains a top product for the country.

Cuba also is interested in more U.S. dairy products, Green said. “They’re desperately short of milk. Anything that can be done to increase the number and size of their few dairy herds would be appreciated,” he explained.

Walter believes the visit from Illinois growers could help loosen the embargo down the road. “It’s kind of a hot-and-cold market. As far as a more consistent market, this trip was kind of a first step in creating those relationships.”

The group stayed in Havana, which for tourists is not cheap, she said. The total cost for the trip was about $3,500 per person; one-third was paid by the IFB, one-third by sponsoring county Farm Bureaus and one-third by the farmers themselves.