The Impact of HR 4645 on Cuban Agriculture

The House Foreign Affairs Committee will vote today about whether or not to bring HR 4645 to a full house vote – bringing us one step closer to finally ending the 51-year ban on travel to Cuba. The bill, entitled “Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act,” would not only allow US citizens to once again travel to the island nation, but it would also loosen the payment restrictions on agricultural deals, making it easier for Cubans to import American food.

Though it’s part of the title, the emphasis of this pending legislation isn’t on agriculture exports. Fewer people seem to be concerned about the bill's effect on Cuban farmers than they are about the possibility of smoking legendary cigars on white sand beaches. While tourism revenues will undoubtedly help the impoverished country, will a flood GMO corn and hormone-pumped chicken do the same?

For all the brutalities of the Castro’s communist dictatorship, Cubans have managed to feed themselves better than most third world countries – in some part, due to their isolation. When the Soviet Union collapsed at the beginning of the 1990s, so did Cuba’s industrial agriculture system. Gone were the days of Soviet-subsidized oil, machine parts, and petro-chemical fertilizers. Unable to buy cheap agricultural inputs or products from the U.S. due to the trade embargo, Cubans turned to organic and urban agriculture. Currently, the country has one of the best systems of urban and organic farming in the world.

What’s more, the system appears to be working. If you want proof, consider the fact that Cuba has completely eliminated child malnutrition – the only country in Latin America to do so. Compare that to Mexico (a “beneficiary” of a free trade agreement with the US), where 5.2 million people are undernourished. Any country that can achieve such a feat gets a point in my book.

When I first heard about HR 4645, I was elated. But as I considered its impact on farmers in Cuba, I began to wonder if it was such a good thing. What would happen to all these urban farms? Promoters of the bill claim that it will help feed Cuba. However, the cynic in me questions any policy that will help American agricultural imports flood other countries, displacing natively grown crops and preventing any semblance of self-sufficiency. As Bill McKibben asks in his enlightening reflection on the Cuban system, “Is it possible that markets, at least for food, may work better when they're smaller and more isolated?”

But as is always the case, nothing is that simple. Though city farms have helped Cuba to produce sustainable food for their growing urban population, the island's food production capacity has suffered from “structural problems, resource scarcity, and massively destructive hurricanes in recent years.” American crops already have a large market in Cuba, even despite the trade restrictions. And though it might be unfair, cheap oil and petro-chemicals aren't part of the new bill, so the organic nature of Cuba's farming will at least stay intact.

And while cheap imports from America might be a valid threat to indigenous agricultural efforts, the benefits of this bill far outweigh the negatives. It is my hope that in addition to sunbathing, swimming, and drinking mojitos, new American tourists to Cuba will take the opportunity to learn about Cuba's unique agricultural system as well.

Photo credit: tardigrade