Iowans take trade mission to Cuba

Iowans take trade mission to Cuba
Tuesday, October 9, 2007, 8:49 AM
By Pat Curtis

A group of Iowans spent last week on a trade mission to Cuba. Former
Iowa Corn Growers Association president Bob Bowman says they spent five
days meeting with government officials, the people in charge of Cuban
livestock production, and touring farms.

Bowman, a farmer in DeWitt, says there's great potential in Cuba to
build markets for Iowa corn and distillers grains, however U.S. policies
restrict trade to the Communist country. "It's a cash only business,"
Bowman says, "the cash has to be transferred into a U.S. bank before the
product can be shipped...which is kind of a disadvantage."

Bowman says the Cuban officials he met with wish the United States would
consider easing trade restrictions. "We were asked repeatedly to do what
we could politically in this country to open up trade," Bowman said,
"because they need two way trade to help their people out."

Bowman says he believes opening trade would improve relations between
the U.S. and Cuba. Many legislators in Washington are against free trade
with Cuba, saying it would only strengthen a dying dictatorship under
Fidel Castro. Bowman was joined on the trip to Cuba by Deb Keller from
Clarion and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey.

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