Members of the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council, National Chicken Council, National Turkey Federation, American Egg Board along with Iowa and Illinois Soybean Associations were involved with the fact-finding mission to Cuba earlier this autumn.
The participants wanted more information about topics including bio-security, food safety and nutrition.
The organizations have been seeking to recapture market space for several products, including soybeans and soybean meal and their efforts build off of work the association has been doing to alter regulations concerning Cuba, said Mike Levin, director of issues management analysis with the Illinois Soybean Association.
“We will continue to engage on these issues and to open up the door and educate ourselves and others on this wonderful, wonderful market that is 90 miles away from us,” he told us. “It’s wonderful to be working on these issues, and working for betterment of everything concerning Cuba.”
Soybean producers consider it to be an important market, he said. “We’re talking from whole soybeans to soybean oil and soybean meal to feed their livestock and things of that nature – from our side that’s what we’re looking at continuing to export,” he added.
Check-off fund use
The trip marked the first time such outreach was funded through soybean checkoff funds.
“The reason that it is historical, is it’s the first,” said Levin. He said the soybean associations have been “working with the administration and working with the USDA [US Department of Agriculture] on the issues of being able to allow for the use of checkoff dollars in Cuba.”
The funds collected are intended to be used for market promotion, said Levin.
“These checkoff funds are not treasury funds, but are dollars raised on direct assessment on our farmers so those that have paid into the checkoff for the oversight of the program should be allowed to use [them],” he said. “Including for the market promotion of market commodities in Cuba.”
In total, 22 trade missions will be permitted to use checkoff funds to conduct agricultural research and exchange information with Cuba, the group reported.
Market research details
The US has lost soybean and meal market share in Cuba to other countries, said Levin. “In 2006 we had more than 75% of the soybean market – and now Brazil does,” he added.
“Coming from an Illinois perspective, we’d like to get back to some of the trade numbers that we had back in 2006-2008,” he said. “We’ve seen a sharp decline of exports into Cuba, and we’d love to see those numbers back where they were.”
Another goal of the trade visit was to develop relationships with consumers and businesses in Cuba, he said. It also offered more information on elements of market for agricultural products.
“It provided for information exchange, which is vitally important between representatives in the US and the Cuban poultry and egg and soybean industries, to assess Cuba’s food distribution system and further develop an understanding for a range of food safety and bio-security and nutritional issues that may drive future development,” he said.
The mission also enabled discussions regarding country goals and agricultural industry needs, said Levin. “We were able to be meet with the [Cuban] ministry of agriculture and really gain a good insight and information on the agricultural perspective and where the [Cuban] market is going,” he added.
On a wider scale, the group also has been working on addressing the regulatory issues that surround trade with Cuba, including removing the trade embargo and ability for US feed crop producers, and others, to extend credit to Cuba, he said. “We have been doing a tremendous amount of work working with membership dollars to really work on the regulatory issues that surround Cuba and the relationship that we have,” he added.
“We must have cash in advance for us to export things to Cuba, and they have to work with third party banks to offer cash in advance and it becomes tedious for Cuba,” said Levin. “Other countries do not have those restrictions.”
Along with arranging additional trips to Cuba, the association is planning to continue efforts to address barriers to agricultural trade with Cuba, he said. There also may be the opportunity for educational outreach if it is of interest to producers in Cuba.