North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson says the state's potato farmers are scrambling to gather seed potatoes for an anticipated shipment to Cuba.

The federal government has approved rules to deal with potato food-safety issues, known as "sanitary and phytosanitary measures," that ensure the commodity is disease and insect-free, said Melissa O'Dell, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

"The proposal has been sent to Cuba for their consideration," O'Dell said Friday. "Hopefully, they'll review it and finalize the deal."

It would be the first time domestic seed potatoes have been shipped to Cuba since the United States established a trade embargo with Cuba in 1962, Johnson and O'Dell said.

"This is a major step," Johnson said.

Pedro Alvarez, chairman of the Cuban food import company Alimport, could not be reached for comment on Friday. Other officials at Ailmport said they were not aware of the shipment and were not authorized to comment on it.

Finding one container-load of North Dakota seed potatoes for shipment to Cuba is the goal now, Johnson said.

"What we're trying to come up with is a small quantity for them to do trials with," he said.

A deal brokered last summer to ship North Dakota seed potatoes to Cuba languished in the government bureaucracy. Johnson said the agreement to ship 100 tons of seed potatoes to Cuba was worth about $15,000, but U.S. regulators failed to come up with rules for inspecting the crop.

Johnson and a committee of government officials and representatives from the potato industry have urged Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer, a former North Dakota governor, to push the deal.

Johnson said he hopes some of the state's potato seed stocks can be sent to Cuban farmers this fall.

"Farmers in Cuba plant in October or November, and it takes about a month to get them there," John said. "The calendar is running out."

Most seed potato stocks in North Dakota already have been sold to other markets, Johnson said.

"A lot of seed potato growers have signed contracts for what they're producing this year for next year," Johnson said.

Cuba officials say the country imports as much as 40,000 tons of seed potatoes annually from Canada and Holland but wants to find other sources.

"One thing they want is supply diversity," Johnson said. "Our state has a really strong reputation for producing disease-free potatoes."

Congress passed a law in 2001 allowing cash sales of U.S. agricultural goods and medicine to Cuba.

Johnson said he has traveled to Cuba seven times in the last seven years to push North Dakota farm products. He said the sales of North Dakota peas and lentils to Cuba have totaled about $35 million since 2001.