McCaskill plans Cuba trip to explore how Missouri farmers can benefit from eased relations

WASHINGTON – Sen. Claire McCaskill is planning a trip to Cuba, saying she wants to explore opportunities for Missouri farmers to trade with the Communist nation.

Her announcement comes after the Obama administration moved to normalize trade relations with Cuba — an historic and controversial decision that ended a five-decade diplomatic freeze between the two nations.

McCaskill, D-Mo., said she strongly supports the president's decision and argued that it will be a boon for Show-Me State farmers.

"It's terrific for Missouri agriculture," McCaskill told reporters Wednesday, adding that she is hoping to travel to Cuba in the coming weeks "to look at the specifics of how we can access those markets."

McCaskill is working with the Center for Democracy in the Americas, an advocacy group focused on improving U.S. ties with Cuba and other countries, to make arrangements and set up meetings for the trip, which will take place this month or next. A spokesman said she would use her own money to pay for the trip.

McCaskill is not the only one hoping to go to the island nation, 90 miles off the coast of Florida, in the wake of the new federal policy.

President Barack Obama outlined the change in mid-December, saying the U.S. would expand trade, increase travel, and establish diplomatic relations with Cuba's Communist regime. For Missouri agriculture producers, that could mean an end to restrictions on selling products to Cuba for everything from beef and pork to rice to soybeans.

Shortly after Obama's announcement, Gov. Jay Nixon directed his state agriculture director, Richard Fordyce, to find out how Missouri agricultural producers could benefit from the move. Nixon also said he wanted to arrange a trade mission of Missouri business, agriculture, and government officials to Cuba and had reached out to the Department of Agriculture and State Department to see if that was possible.

Missouri is the country's fifth-largest rice producer, seventh-largest soybean producer and 10th-largest corn producer. Food and agricultural exports have been exempt from U.S. trade sanctions on Cuba since 2001. But rules on completing transactions--using cash isn't an option, for example, and payments are required in advance--resulted in extra expense and time, complicating shipments of some products.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the shift in relations with Cuba will remove barriers and "create a more efficient, less burdensome opportunity for Cuba to buy U.S. agricultural products." Those items would become more price-competitive, he said, giving Cubans more options and creating more customers for U.S. farmers and ranchers.

Agricultural shipments to Cuba have remained volatile the past decade, peaking at around $700 million in 2008. In 2013, shipments totaled almost $350 million, with frozen chicken making up 41 percent of the figure, according to the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council. Soybean oil cakes, corn and soybeans made up an additional 48 percent.

Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst said the requirement that Cuba pay in cash for any commodities has been a hurdle to trade. Hurst and others said rice farmers in Missouri were in the best position to benefit from the new policy, but others could also gain from access to the new market.

"Hands down (rice) is the crop that could benefit the most," said D. Scott Brown, an agriculture professor at the University of Missouri. "(But) I think it's going to be an across-the-board benefit to a lot of commodities."

Still, he and others said it was unclear how quickly trade would begin and how far the policy would go.

"Since it's a new market, it will take I'm sure some time before we're selling to them," said Hurst.

In addition, there may be political pressure from the new GOP-controlled Congress, with some critics aiming to limit the effectiveness of the policy shift. Republicans have blasted the president's decision as a victory for the oppressive regime in Cuba, led by Raul Castro. They say the U.S. should continue to isolate Cuba diplomatically and economically until its leaders grant their people more political and economic liberty.

Easing diplomatic ties "is not helpful for the long-term freedom of the people of Cuba," Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., told reporters after Obama's December announcement. "It's a mistake."

Blunt also questioned the benefit, saying American businesses that trade with Cuba could wind up "with a whole lot of debt that the Cuban government will not pay."

McCaskill dismissed such criticisms, saying "the policy in place for over five decades has not worked." She said her trip was in the works even before Obama's announcement because Missouri agriculture groups have long pressed for access to that market.

"This is a market that's nearby, that's easily accessible," McCaskill said. "I want to get down there as soon as possible to see for myself what we can be doing to help Missouri agriculture."

Contact Deirdre Shesgreen at dshesgreen@usatoday.com or @dshesgreen on Twitter.

Christopher Doering contributed to this story.