CubaTrade-May2017-Flipbook

AGRICULTURE
THE POTATO MISSION
WITH CUBA'S TROPICAL CLIMATE UNABLE TO
SPAWN POTATO SEEDLINGS, U.S. POTATO
FARMERS SEE AN OPPORTUNITY
By JP Faber
Photo by John Toaspern
Fieldwork: Enel Hernandez of the Ministry of Agriculture (left) examines a Cuban potato field with Potatoes USA CEO Blair Richardson (right).
With its culinary reputation for root
plants like yucca and malanga, it would
seem that Cuba has no need for America’s
ubiquitous spud, the potato. Not true at
all, say members of an agriculture delegation
that recently traveled to the island to
explore sales of potato seedlings.
“Nutritionally the potato is far superior
to the tropical tubers, which are just
hollow calories,” says John Toaspern, chief
marketing officer for Potatoes USA, the
Denver-based organization representing
2,500 commercial American potato growers.
“From the standpoint of providing the
people of Cuba with a good food source,
the authorities there understand this.”
Potatoes, which originally came from
Peru, typically grow in northern climates
or at high altitudes. But potatoes are also
grown worldwide in tropical environments,
including the Dominican Republic
and Central America. The problem is
that these locales aren't conducive to the
production of potato seedlings, which
Cuba currently purchases from the EU
and Canada.
For this reason, a team of 16 seed
potato producers, technical experts, staffers,
and board members of Potatoes USA
visited Cuba at the end of March, meeting
The takeaway was that their interest in U.S. seed potatoes is
sincere...
John Toaspern, chief marketing officer of Potatoes USA
with Cuban agriculture researchers and
farmers in Matanzas and Cienfuegos.
“Our experts and our growers had
a great deal of information to exchange
with their folks about how we do things,
and how they do things,” said Toaspern.
“The takeaway was that their interest in
U.S. seed potatoes is sincere. This would be
an opportunity to improve their yields by
using U.S. seed potatoes.”
The biggest problem for Cuban
potato farmers is the heat. When it comes
to creating the seedlings used for growing
new crops, high heat and humidity tend to
breed diseases. By contrast, U.S. seedlings—which
are actually tiny potatoes or
‘mini-tubers’—are grown first in a laboratory,
then propagated over several years in
pristine, isolated fields in higher-altitude
places like Colorado.
Meeting with the ministries of
foreign commercial affairs, agriculture,
and food production, the Potatoes USA
team discussed ways to boost Cuba’s
potato production. “The government
has set some pretty high standards for
themselves,” says Paul Johnson, co-chair
of the U.S. Agriculture Coalition for
Cuba, which organized the trip for the
potato growers. “They ultimately want to
produce 15 pounds of potatoes per person
during the harvest season. But they have
some challenges in terms of storage and
distribution.”
While the Cuban market for U.S.
potato seedlings in not vast, even at a
maximum $5 million a year it would still
be welcome income for American farmers.
“But there are a great deal of constraints in
place to making it happen,” says Toaspern,
including whether the USDA—which
typically helps U.S. farmers market overseas—can
help. “The next step is to sort
out whether the USDA allows us to move
forward or if this has to be done from
the private sector working with the Cuba
government.”
On the Cuban side of the equation,
while the government's role in agriculture
is extensive, the potato co-ops that
Potatoes USA met with are private enterprises.
“They got rid of the Soviet style
of collective agriculture a while ago,” says
Toaspern. H
32 CUBATRADE MAY 2017