Despite U.S. trade restrictions, Cuba represents a good market for North Dakota's pea production, which is expected to rise because of federal price backing, dealers say.

"The potential for peas and lentils and chickpeas raised in North Dakota is tremendous," said Jerome Knudson, president of Superior Grains Inc. of Crosby. "We're trying to find new markets for this product, because I think next year, there's going to be a lot of peas raised."

Knudson is part of a group of North Dakotans who are in Havana, Cuba, this week for an international trade fair. They are vying to sell agricultural products, which is allowed under a recent easing of U.S. trade sanctions against the communist country.

P S International Ltd., an export trading firm based in Chapel Hill, N.C., has signed a $750,000 contract to supply peas.

North Dakota participants in the trade mission said Tuesday they used the company to broker their deals, and they were hoping for more business.

"Hopefully we can do a few more contracts here before we get out of here. It sounds like they still want to deal," said Wayne Schmitz, operations manager at Premier Pulse International Inc. of Minot.

North Dakota supplies almost half the nation's pea production. "The biggest share of (the pea contract) is going to be North Dakota peas," Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson said.

Johnson is leading the North Dakota delegation to the trade fair, which includes representatives of 28 other states.

During a telephone conference call on Tuesday, Johnson said the North Dakotans are also trying to interest Cuban buyers in dry edible beans; hard red spring wheat, which is used to make bakery goods; and semolina, an ingredient made from durum wheat that is used to make pasta.

"We know that there's substantial importation of wheat and flour and semolina, and (Cuban buyers) historically have not used much hard red spring wheat in that whole mix," Johnson said. "We're trying to talk to them about the value of beefing that up."

Vance Taylor, general manager of the state Mill and Elevator in Grand Forks, and Wayne Olson, the mill's sales manager, are part of the North Dakota delegation.

North Dakota planted 170,000 acres of peas this year, a record high and an increase of 10 percent from 2002, the state Agricultural Statistics Service said. Nationally, 356,000 acres of peas were planted this year.

Federal farm legislation two years ago made peas eligible for federal crop price supports, which provide a new incentive for farmers to grow them. Pea producers will be searching for new markets, and Cuba is a promising candidate for sales, Knudson said.

Johnson and Chuck Fleming, the Agriculture Department's marketing director, also met with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro for almost four hours on Monday, discussing Cuban food needs and the island's sugar industry.

In September 2002, a North Dakota trade delegation that included Johnson and Lt. Gov. Jack Dalrymple took part in a similar Cuban agricultural trade show. They reached agreements to sell peas, dry beans, edible soybeans, pasta and flour.

Gov. John Hoeven and Eric Aasmundstad, president of the North Dakota Farm Bureau, led a separate trade mission in July 2002, which struck deals to sell peas, garbanzo beans and other commodities.