Associated Press

VERMILLION, S.D. - A farm leader hopes South Dakota farmers will be able to start exporting goods to Cuba by sometime next year.

The Trade Sanctions Reform Act passed by Congress in 2000 allowed American farmers to sell directly to Cuba on a cash basis, although some restrictions remain in place.

Since then farmers in more than 30 states have done business with Cuba, but not South Dakota.

Dallas Tonsager, executive director of the South Dakota Value-Added Agriculture Development Center, said people in Cuba need what South Dakota farmers produce.

He met in September with Cuban officials. By sometime next year, Tonsager hopes there will be at least one transaction between a South Dakota farmer and Cuba.