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HELENA — The Montana Farmers Union and other state agricultural producers are eager to begin trade with Cuba under a deal struck last month between the state's congressional leaders and Cuba's largest importer of food.
If the deal holds together, Hi-Country Beef Jerky and other Montana-based agricultural products could soon be shipped to the socialist nation, which sits only 20 minutes by jet from U.S. shores.
Brooks Dailey, vice president of the Montana Farmers Union, told a sparse audience Monday night at Carroll College that Montana's delegation to Cuba was a success, and could someday help advance normalized trade and travel between the two nations.
Dailey, who accompanied Sen. Max Baucus and Rep. Denny Rehberg, along with Herb Karst, president of the Montana Grain Growers Association, said the details of the $10 million deal that resulted from the trip are in the final works.
http://www.helenair.com/articles/2003/10/29/montana/a01102903_06.txt