Johnson Announces Pea Sale to Cuba

North Dakota peas will soon be headed to Cuba as part of an agreement announced today by state Ag...  More »

North Dakota peas will soon be headed to Cuba as part of an agreement announced today by state Ag Commissioner Roger Johnson. Johnson, speaking in a conference call from Cuba, said Cuba has signed a deal to buy 12-thousand tons of peas and lentils - most from North Dakota. The contract is worth about 7-and-a-half million dollars. Johnson says North Dakota pea and lentil producers are working with Cubans to make sure the properties of the peas coming from North Dakota are what consumers in the island nation are looking for. (Roger Johnson, ND Ag Commissioner) "In lots of places they're processed or ground, they're sized differently. But here, basically they're just dropped in boiling water and cooked so their behavior in that boiling water is very important and that's what we spent a lot of time yesterday talking about." Johnson says he's disappointed that beaurocratic red tape held up the potential sale of North Dakota potatoes to Cuba. He hopes to see a sale finished up yet this year. Johnson has been leading a trade delegation in Cuba since Sunday. The group is returning to North Dakota tomorrow.  « Less