The resources on this Trade Toolkit page are intended for farmers and grain industry stakeholders to use in their outreach on trade and market development topics.
Questions, comments or suggestions? Email Ellen Zimmerman at USGBC, ezimmerman@grains.org.
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Want to know more about trade’s structure, economic impact and key issues? Go to the Learn About Trade page. Or start with the Backgrounder: The Essential Guide To U.S. Trade, published by USGBC in July 2019.
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Charts of Note – charts that explain hot trade topics.
Infographics – infographics with the latest trade.
Elevator Speech on Ag Trade
- The flow of goods, ideas, capital and people is essential for prosperity.
- 95%+ of the world’s population lives outside the U.S.
- More than 97% of the anticipated population growth over the next 35 years will take place outside of U.S. borders.
- Agriculture is the U.S. foreign trade champion.
- The United States has negotiated trade agreements with 20 countries since the end of World War II, including that which established the World Trade Organization.
- Recent agreements with Japan and China, which are not full FTAs, have also demonstrated the importance of policy to grain and grain product sales.
- In most years, sales to countries with which the U.S. has an FTA account for more than half of all U.S. grains in all forms exports.
- Trade policy + market development = sales!
- Failing to move forward on trade means falling behind.
- When trade works, the world wins!
Talking Points – Grains In All Forms
Talking Points – Market Development Programs
- Both Market Access Program (MAP) funding and Foreign Market Development (FMD) program funding are part of the farm bill.
- In the 2018 Farm Bill, Agricultural Trade Promotion and Facilitation – an umbrella program for MAP and FMD – was funded at $255 million per year.
- Of this, $200 million/per year is allocated for MAP, and $34.5 million/year was allocated for FMD.
- More about these programs is explained in this infographic.
- FMD covers USGBC fixed costs overseas including staff and offices. MAP generally covers the programs those staff operate.
- In addition to maintaining the human infrastructure, having a continual flow of market development funds – today, supplemented by funds from the Agricultural Trade Promotion (ATP) Program – ensures USGBC staff can continue aggressively pursuing near-term market opportunities and long-term market development efforts.
- More about these programs is at www.agexportscount.org.