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Apr 14, 2016
The American Soybean Association (ASA) along with over 60 other agricultural groups, this month sent a letter to the Chair and Ranking Member of the House and Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee, urging them to provide funding for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) employees to be housed within the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba.
“Providing USDA boots on the ground in Cuba will help to provide U.S. agribusinesses the opportunity to obtain commodity market supply and demand figures, support the marketing efforts of U.S. exporters, assist in resolving phytosanitary barriers, and safeguard U.S. agriculture from the threat of new pests and diseases,” the letter states. “We feel that funding these USDA positions in Cuba in anticipation of an eventual lifting of the embargo will help to make the transition process run more efficiently, assist U.S. agribusinesses to regain the role as Cuba’s top exporter, and advance U.S. agricultural interests.”
A provision in President Barack Obama’s Proposed FY2017 Budget would provide the funding for the housing.
Click here to read the letter.
