Cuban Grain Sale is Significant and Symbolic

February 1, 2002

For the first time in 40 years, a ship loaded with wheat grown by American farmers left a United States port bound for the island of Cuba. The M.V. H. Ismael Kaptanoglu left the Farmland export elevator at the Port of Galveston in January, laden with more than 1.1 million bushels of Hard Red Winter Wheat No. 2 en route to Havana. The wheat came from the fields of Farmland-member producers in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

The Farmland-member wheat was shipped under a year-old U.S. law, The Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000, which permits food and merchandise sales to Cuba.

While this one-time sale to Cuba was in many ways a symbolic transaction, it was also very significant. American agriculture, and farmers within the cooperative system, can feed the world and alleviate hunger in many developing nations if given the ability to freely trade their products across global markets.

About 25 percent of farm income comes from international sales, yet approximately 15 percent of world wheat consumption is off-limits to farmers because of U.S. sanctions. The shipment to Cuba illustrates the potential benefits free trade and the opening of new markets can provide for American farmers, and it was met with enthusiasm from state agriculture officials, trade organizations, and producer groups.

The Cuba grain sale also illustrates the value and reach that joint venture partnerships provide local cooperatives and individual farmers.

This was the first instance of trade with Cuba in more than 40 years, and it would not have been possible without Farmland's joint venture with Archer Daniels Midland Co. - ADM/Farmland, Inc. As you read this, children in Cuba are eating bread made with wheat grown by farmers in Barton County, Kansas, Garfield County, Oklahoma, and Knox County, Texas. While Farmland has long worked toward fair trade, the sale of Farmland member grain to Cuba would not have occurred without Farmland's partnership with ADM.

Farmland is proud to have been part of this historic event, and proud that Farmland-member wheat is now being consumed in Cuba.

Bob Honse
President and CEO
Farmland Industries, Inc.

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