COLUMBUS — Ohio farmer John Linder rode in a 1957 Chevy, sipped rum, marveled at the beauty and ruin of Havana, and smoked a cigar on his recent trip to Cuba.
But the reason he was there — and the thing that never left his mind — was corn.
Morrow County is two counties north of Columbus.
Now that the U.S. government has taken steps toward normalizing relations with the island nation, trade opportunities are being explored.
The trip, organized by the U.S. Agricultural Coalition for Cuba, was the first trade mission since President Obama’s announcement of a change in policy in December.
The coalition consists of food companies, farmers, state agriculture officials, Democrats, and Republicans. The trip included a pair of former U.S. Department of Agriculture secretaries: John Block, who served under President Ronald Reagan, and Mike Espy, who served under President Bill Clinton.
Mr. Linder returned with the knowledge that Cuba needs a bit of everything that Americans take for granted — infrastructure, information, equipment — and corn and soybeans.
In fields fenced by miles of neatly piled stones, Soviet-era tractors sat idle for lack of spare parts, Mr. Linder said. Farmers plowed the land with cattle.
“Cuba is a land and a people lost in time,” said Mr. Linder, who is from Morrow County.
There has been a U.S. embargo of varying degrees on goods going to and from Cuba for 54 years. The group wants to end the embargo for the good of both U.S. agriculture and Cuba.
The National Corn Growers Association tapped Mr. Linder as its representative for the trip because he is the chairman of its trade, policy, and biotechnology committee.
About 40 percent of Ohio’s $2.2 billion corn crop is shipped out of state, and the more markets that corn can go to, the better it is for farmers, said Tadd Nicholson, executive director of the Ohio Corn and Wheat Growers Association.
Cuba is an ideal market, just 90 miles off the tip of Florida at the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico.
A lot of Ohio’s corn and soybeans already move down the Mississippi River to southern seaports.
Some of the bounty already goes to Cuba.
For years, the United States has allowed food and medicine through the embargo, but Cuba is forced to pay with cash because credit is not allowed. That has pushed Cuba to look to South America for food imports and has cut its consumption of U.S. corn by 75 percent since 2008, Mr. Linder said.
Cuba is about the size of Pennsylvania, and at 11 million people, it is as populous as Ohio.
The U.S. coalition sees unencumbered trade with Cuba as a means to create jobs here and to help the people there.
“The people in Cuba need an economic lift,” Mr. Linder said.
The delegation from the United States numbered close to 100. The Americans met with Cuban government officials, toured farms, and even visited the Bay of Pigs, where a doomed U.S.-backed invasion force landed in 1961.
Mr. Linder marveled at what was in the bay on the day he toured — a high-tech, prototype fish farm funded by Norway. The project raises cobia fish, which Mr. Linder believes would be welcome on the plates of many Americans. The cobia are fed corn and soybeans from Canada, a fact that galled Mr. Linder, given U.S. dominance in both commodities.
He also noted that Cuba is a good source of tropical fruit, coffee, and beans.
“I just see opportunity,” he said.
Mr. Obama opened a few shallow channels by committing to diplomatic talks, plans to re-establish an embassy in Havana, and enabling Americans who visit Cuba to bring back as much as $400 worth of Cuban goods. The next step is up to Congress.
First Published March 17, 2015, 6:21 a.m.
