Some farmers and ranchers in Texas hope Congress eventually affirms an agribusiness-friendly measure easing restrictions with Havana

Tom Paben, state director of the Texas Farm Bureau, holds a handful of rice while visiting a neighbor's farm on Thursday in Waller County.

Waller County rancher Tom Paben has never sold beef to Cuba, largely because of a half-century-old trade and travel embargo.

But Paben is optimistic he will, now that Congress is considering a bill that would allow U.S. tourists to travel to the island nation and would lift restrictions on how Cubans can pay for American agricultural goods.

"If Cuba opened up to tourists, they would use higher cuts of chicken and beef," said Paben, a fifth-generation rancher and farmer. "Our country has a rare opportunity over the course of the next few days to begin the process of undoing a complete failure in U.S. foreign policy."

The embargo, a product of the Cold War, was enacted in 1962, a few years after Fidel Castro led the revolution that established a communist government in Cuba.

A bill allowing Americans to travel to Cuba and allowing Cuba to pay U.S. companies directly for goods was approved recently by the House Agriculture Committee and faces the Foreign Affairs Committee before it goes before the full House.

On Friday, farmers and business leaders with the Texas Farm Bureau urged Congress to pass the bill.

"This is a step forward in free trade with Cuba," Jeff Moseley, Greater Houston Partnership CEO and president, said during a downtown news conference. In 2006, the partnership passed a resolution supporting trade with Cuba.

A decade ago, the U.S. began allowing agriculture exports to Cuba but required that all financial transactions pass through a third country.

"This stifles our ability to transact business," said Port of Houston Authority CEO Alec Dreyer.

Last year, U.S. exports to Cuba totaled $528 million. The U.S. could export $365 million more annually if the travel and financial restrictions ended, according to a study by the Center for North American Studies at Texas A&M University.

Texas exported $20.6 million in agricultural goods last year and could increase annual exports by $18.4 million under the looser restrictions, the study said.

Texas farmers have been pushing for Congress to ease restrictions on trade with Cuba for years, but this is the first time legislation has gotten out of a legislative committee, said Stephen Pringle, legislative director for the Texas Farm Bureau.