Rice and Salsa.

• Author: Mangu-Ward, Katherine
• Position: Selling food to Cuba - Brief article

THE POSSIBILITY of a long weekend in Havana has lots of folks excited about the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2010, the latest attempt to end the decades-long travel ban and trade embargo on Cuba. But it's the prospect of a new market for exports, not the chance to go salsa dancing, that has a group of Texas farmers excited about the bill.

In August the Austin American-Statesman visited a community of rice farmers outside of Houston who are eager to supply the white rice that is a staple of the Cuban diet. Relaxing the...