FY 24 Market Development Program Funds Announced By USDA

This week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA’s FAS) announced its market development program investments for the 2024 fiscal year (FY). The U.S. Grains Council (USGC) was one of the nearly 70 agricultural organizations to receive funding through the Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development (FMD) program.

“Over the years, we have seen the tremendous impact both MAP and FMD have on expanding U.S. exports to markets across the globe,” said FAS Administrator Daniel B. Whitley in Monday’s announcement. “For each $1 invested in export market development, U.S. agricultural exports have increased by more than $24. These programs provide a significant boost to the U.S. agricultural industry, which in turn helps strengthen the economy not just in rural communities but across the entire United States.”

The Council was awarded approximately $13 million of MAP and FMD funding for FY 2024. In addition, the Council is also applying for additional funding through the newly created Regional Agricultural Promotion Program (RAPP), which will provide $1.2 billion to assist exporters in reaching non-traditional markets and building on relationships in existing markets.

“These grants are a culmination of a year’s long effort by our staff and our members through their role in Advisory Teams to identify program priorities for our various commodity groups and build program strategies to capture grant funding,” said Kurt Shultz, USGC senior director of global strategies. “We are a member-driven organization, and we will begin meeting with our members in February at our annual international marketing conference to start planning our strategy for 2025 and beyond.”

MAP reaches virtually every corner of the globe, helping build markets for a wide variety of U.S. farm and food products. FAS provides cost-share assistance to eligible U.S. organizations for activities such as consumer advertising, public relations, point-of-sale demonstrations, participation in trade fairs and exhibits, market research and technical assistance. When MAP funds are used for generic marketing and promotion, participants must contribute a minimum 10 percent match. For the promotion of branded products, a dollar-for-dollar match is required.

Additionally, the FMD program focuses on generic promotion of U.S. commodities rather than consumer-oriented promotion of branded products. Preference is given to organizations that represent an entire industry or are nationwide in membership and scope. FMD-funded projects generally address long-term opportunities to reduce foreign import constraints or expand export growth opportunities.