Associated Press

Cuba had completed its promised purchase of $10 million in Montana agricultural products, Sen. Max Baucus said Tuesday, and another deal is possible.

The Democrat is scheduled to visit the island nation next month.

In September 2003, Baucus traveled to Cuba with state agriculture producers and business officials and secured a deal in which Cuba would buy $10 million in farm products. The country wound up buying $10.4 million in wheat, dry beans and peas, he said.

“We’re all very excited here about the potential for this sale to help our ag economy and create jobs on main streets across Montana,” Baucus said.
He has pushed legislation to lift a U.S. embargo on Cuba, which his office said was eased in 2000 to allow sales of food and medicine. Baucus has also advocated lifting travel restrictions to the country. He said the embargo seems to have had little effect on Fidel Castro’s communist government.

Jim Stinehagen, president and chief executive officer of Yellowstone Bean Co., said he considers Cuba a “diamond in the rough” for many of the state’s agricultural products. He said he hopes to continue doing business with the Cubans.