US agricultural secretary Tom Vilsack has this week announced the allocation of US$234.5m to be distributed across 70 separate US trade organisations, in a bid to help promote the country's food and agricultural products overseas.
The funding has been allocated under the Market Access Programme (MAP) and the Foreign Market Development (FMD) Cooperator Programme, both administrated by the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAO).
'In today's highly competitive international markets, we must provide our exporters with the resources the need to compete overseas during the 21st century,' said Mr Vilsack. 'When you consider the current global financial crisis, increasing production in key competitor countries and aggressive use of export promotion tools by our competitors, USDA's market development programmes are more important than ever.'
MAP uses funds from the USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation to share the costs of overseas market development and promotional activities with US non-profit agricultural trade organisations, state regional trade groups and cooperatives.
Activities conducted with MAP funding include market research, consumer promotions for retail products, technical capacity building and seminars to educate overseas customers.
Some of the beneficiaries of the funding include:
- Florida Department of Citrus (US$5.2m)
- Washington Apple Commission (US$4.7m)
- Sunkist Growers (US$4m)
- California Table Grape Commission (US$3.5m)
- Pear Bureau Northwest (US$2.9m)
- California Tree Fruit Agreement (US$2.4m)
- Washington State Fruit Commission (US$1.1m)
- Florida Tomato Committee (US$900,000)
- US Apple Export Council (US$871,000)
- California Strawberry Commission (US$787,000)
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