Nuts to Cuba, says the Bush administration. No, Michigan replies: Beans.
After a perfectly horrible year in 2001, nothing would suit some of the state's farmers better than if Fidel Castro sat down every evening to a plate of Michigan navy beans.
Ahead of most small businesses in the state, farmers have become ever more oriented to foreign trade. Economic sanctions against Cuba deprive them of a substantial market for dry beans, dairy products, seed potatoes, fruits and other crops, they believe.
That's why farm officials were disappointed last week when the U.S. Department of State abruptly canceled a trip to Michigan by four Cuban government trade officials. The delegation planned to visit farms in Michigan, Indiana, Georgia, Arkansas and Texas, looking for things to buy.
It's the second time that happened. Bob Boehm, marketing expert at the Michigan Farm Bureau, said the problem undoubtedly is the tricky politics of dealing with Cuba.
Demands for a renewal of economic ties with Cuba have gradually gained steam in recent years, and Michigan agriculture officials patiently sought to build contacts with officials there. Boehm promises to keep trying.
U.S. trade with Cuba generally is prohibited. But Robert Craig, director of the agriculture development division of the Michigan Department of Agriculture, said Congress relented in 2000 by permitting restricted exports of food and medicine. Then, after Hurricane Michelle devastated Cuba last November, increased food shipments from the U.S. were allowed as humanitarian aid.
Craig and other state farm representatives met Cuban officials at a conference in Mexico early this year and decided to try to get a foot in the door.
He says the state doesn't want to get too far ahead of official U.S. policy toward Cuba. But Michigan farmers, trying to recover from a disastrous 2001 season and years of rock-bottom farm prices, can't afford to bypass any chance to make a sale.
Last spring was too wet, followed by a summer-long drought over most of the state. Many Michigan farmers and food processors right now are signing up for interest-free loans under an emergency state program to help finance spring plantings.
If this is a good year, their attention will return to foreign markets. Although some sectors of the American farm economy worship their protective tariffs and government subsidies, Michigan farmers by and large are for free trade.
And often they feel at a disadvantage compared with higher-profile industries. President Bush recently ordered tariff increases on imports of cheap foreign products to help the teetering U.S. steel industry. Nobody, probably, is going to do anything for Michigan asparagus growers, suffering from low-priced imports from Peru.
"The Michigan Farm Bureau still maintains that Cuba has the potential to be a huge market for Michigan farm goods," Boehm said. "However, with the current stance of the State Department, it appears that Michigan producers will not be given the opportunity to develop this market."
But farmers are persistent, and constitutionally optimistic. So it seems likely that when Cuba inevitably returns to a capitalistic system, people there will be munching Michigan beans long before they start driving new Michigan-made Ford pickup trucks.
You can reach James V. Higgins at (313) 222-2749 or jhiggins@detnews.com.