Wichita — With Cuba about to get its first shipment of American wheat in four decades, the Kansas Wheat Commission will fund a flour miller to teach Cubans how to mill it.
Commission board members agreed unanimously Friday to spend $15,000 teaching Cubans the milling characteristics of hard red winter wheat. The money would come from the penny per bushel paid for every bushel of wheat sold in Kansas.
The proposal comes after the recent sale to Cuba of 60,000 tons of hard red winter wheat and 10,000 tons of flour. The first of that wheat shipment is being loaded this weekend at Galveston, Tex., and by Monday or Tuesday should sail for Cuba, said Paul Dickerson, vice president of overseas operations for U.S. Wheat Associates.
U.S. Wheat Associates asked Kansas to fund the milling consultant because of government restrictions on using federal funds for trade with Cuba, Dickerson said.
"Hard red winter wheat is a natural for the Cuban market, and Kansas is the largest hard red producing state," said Dusti Fritz, assistant administrator for the Kansas Wheat Commission. "We have been supportive of projects like this in the past."
In 1998, U.S. Wheat Associates sent 44 tons of flour from wheat donated by U.S. farmers, and its officials have traveled to Cuba on several occasions to discuss normalizing the wheat trade between the countries.
At stake is who will sell Cuba the 1.1 million tons of wheat it now buys annually. Cuba buys mostly from the European Union, Canada and Argentina, though most of that wheat is the same hard red winter wheat produced in Kansas.
"We have been involved in trying to open this market for many years," Fritz said. "I think we are just a natural fit."
The milling consultant, who will join officials from U.S. Wheat Associates, would help Cuban millers adjust their equipment to handle U.S. wheat, said Marsha Boswell, Kansas Wheat Commission spokeswoman.
The money for the consultant come from $30,000 already set aside last year for Cuba wheat donations.
Cuba is buying U.S. food with a one-time cash payment to help it recover from Hurricane Michelle, which struck in early November and destroyed crops and thousands of homes. The United Nations has said Cuba could face food shortages in the coming months.
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