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Dow Brantley, chairman of USA Rice and the Arkansas Rice Federation, used the editorial pages of an influential Capitol Hill newspaper Tuesday to call for an end to Cold War-era restrictions on trade with Cuba.

The Hill published Brantley's guest editorial in which he praised Gov. Asa Hutchinson, U.S. Sen. John Boozman and U.S Rep. Rick Crawford for supporting "expanded trade opportunities for businesses and industries like [his]."

"However, we need additional champions in Congress to continue this momentum to normalize trade so that Cuba can once again become a major U.S. trading partner.

"If we are successful in lifting the outdated and harmful trade embargo, we can ensure that an island of more than 11 million people can enjoy the same rice that grew in my backyard and in thousands of backyards across our state," he wrote.

Brantley is one in a long line of farmers; he grows rice in England.

Arkansas' five win conservative honors

The American Conservative Union gave its Award for Conservative Excellence to the state's two Republican U.S. senators, John Boozman of Rogers and Tom Cotton of Dardanelle. Twenty senators received the distinction after scoring between 90 percent and 100 percent on the group's annual scorecard. Three of the state's Republican U.S. representatives, Rick Crawford of Jonesboro, French Hill of Little Rock and Bruce Westerman of Hot Springs, received the Award for Conservative Achievement after scoring 80 percent to 89 percent.

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