North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson is making another trip to Cuba next month to push North Dakota farm products.Johnson says it will be his seventh trip in the past seven years pitching the state's commodities. He said the state has sold about $30 million worth of peas and lentils to Cuba since 2001. But he said a deal he helped broker last year that would have sent 100 tons of seed potatoes to Cuba has languished.Rules have not been crafted to deal with potato food-safety issues, known as "sanitary and phytosanitary measures," that ensure the commodity is disease and insect-free, Johnson said."It's disappointing," Johnson said. U.S. regulators "are still dithering around with the protocol - it's hard to say where the block is."The United States established a trade embargo with Cuba in 1962, but Congress passed a law in 2001 allowing cash sales of U.S.

Go with the grain when shares fall

My second pick is connected to the soft commodities boom. One of its downsides is that the high price of food across the world is bumping up inflation numbers already being hit by rising wage demands and energy costs.

You can protect yourself against inflation to a degree by buying gold, but also by getting into the government bond market and in particular index-linked gilts, the return on which is linked to the Retail Prices Index. You used to be able to buy these pretty simply via the Post Office, but money-laundering regulations have now made doing so a tedious, administration-heavy task.

Luckily the exchange-traded fund business has once again come to the rescue with the iShares £ Index Linked Gilt ETF (INGX) which tracks the returns from the index-linked market.

Earnings roundup: Campbell, Hormel

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) _ The Campbell Soup Co. said Friday its second-quarter profit slipped 3.9 percent as increases in the cost of commodities and energy and higher promotional spending offset a strong sales increase.

'Unsafe sleep' leads to infants' deaths

Massachusetts' former chief medical examiner, Dr. Mark Flomenbaum, who was part of the state's Child Fatality Review Team, found unsafe sleeping environments of such a concern that he sent a letter to pediatricians early last year.Flomenbaum wrote in his letter, "Although it appears that most parents and caregivers are placing their infants to sleep on their backs, we are continuing to see a number of babies whose deaths are associated with unsafe sleeping environments. In fact, since I took office in April 2005, we have seen at least 32 such deaths. Some of the unsafe sleeping environments include situations where infants were sleeping with their parents and/or siblings, left sleeping in car seat carriers, left to sleep on soft (adult) pillows, bedding, or couches or allowed to lay on the chest of a parent who fell asleep.

Disastrous Dow tumbles again

Separately, the index of leading economic indicators (LEI), fell 0.2 percent in December after falling 0.4 percent in November. Economists thought it would fall 0.1 percent.

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MEN'S CLUB SNOOKER: February 11 results Fred Martin Cup Match at home v LWMC: Neil Griffin 57 Gus Bayrum 21, Henry Woolmer 20 J Richardson 53, Peter Stewart 10 Paul Scorer 61 (31 break), Tony Deakin 38 Steve Whitebourne 59. Barcombe lost 1-3. STOOLBALL CLUB: The AGM is on Tuesday at 7.30pm in the fire station. New players always welcome, just turn up. For more information contact Kelly Thomas on 07762 287433. BISHOPSTONE SPRING SHOW: The Bishopstone Horticultural and Home Produce Spring Show will be held on Saturday March 29. Schedules, with full details of the various classes, and entry forms will be available at the beginning of March, but it might be safe to assume that daffodils will be on the menu. REMINDER: Don't forget to come out of hibernation for the Tea Dance, in aid of the parish hall roof repairs, on the afternoon of Wednesday March 12.

Sidelines: By Mark Zeigler

Liverpool: The English giant crashes out of the F.A. Cup with a 1-0 loss – at home, no less – to unfancied Barnsley. Probably the only hope for coach Rafael Benitez to save his job is advancing in the UEFA Champions League.

Strikes, shortages, sniping: FIFA inspectors are back in South Africa this week for one of their periodic site visits, and the mood is positively unsettled. The headline in the Sunday Times newspaper: "2010 Turmoil." The article begins: "Infighting and mistrust is causing widespread tension within the company entrusted to pull off Africa's first FIFA World Cup. Key players in the country's 2010 Local Organising Committee (LOC) are barely talking to each other, while chief executive Danny Jordaan is being labeled a 'control freak.' " One LOC official was quoted as saying, "It is an accident waiting to happen." Add to that fears that South Africa's recent electricity shortage could spill into the tournament, and a strike among construction workers at one of the stadiums last week came with demands for double their current wages.