However, it was there and provided needed income to producers. Cubans want rice, badly. When asked what we did with our broken kernels, one of our delegation knowledgeable about rice said we used it in dog food. But the Cuban bureaucrats were most astounded when we told them we fed special rations to broilers in order to color chicken skin to consumer preference. It was clear their main concern was putting something in the feeder.
Trade is a two-way street.
Cuba hopes to export sugar, tobacco and cigars, citrus and seafood, particularly lobster. From the citrus I saw, it won't meet our standards. Importing Cuban sugar would force us to readjust our current preferential quota system and cause some problems for nations selling to us, but hopefully not too much for our producers. Citrus production in Cuba is largely oranges and grapefruit. However, Cuban farmers don't have access to crop protection tools employed by American producers.