USDA is giving $300 million to 66 U.S. organizations — including the Cherry Marketing Institute, U.S. Grains Council, and U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council — to build demand for American food and farm exports in high-potential markets around the globe.

Via the new Regional Agricultural Promotion Program (RAPP), USDA authorized $1.2 billion in Commodity Credit Corp. funding to help U.S. exporters expand their customer base beyond established markets. Regions of focus include Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and South and Southeast Asia.

Among the recipients are Cherry Marketing Institute, which will receive $450,000; USGC, which will receive $17 million in funding; and the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council, which will receive $1.3 million. The American Soybean Association received the most at $28.5 million.

“This funding will go to over 60 partner organizations that will help build demand for U.S. farm and food exports in high-potential markets around the globe,” Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says.

“We will be funding hundreds of projects, encompassing a wide and vast variety of products and markets, building demand for U.S. meat exports in Africa to promoting U.S. olives in Latin America to knocking down trade barriers for white coffee in Japan.”

RAPP was launched after a request from the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry to bolster, diversify and expand market opportunities for U.S. agriculture products. This round of funding is the first of five tranches, with the next one coming in 2026.

USGC said it will use its funds in developing markets that “will be crucial to the future of U.S. agriculture exports,” including enhancing its programming in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and South and Southeast Asia.

Other projects include:

The U.S. Dairy Export Council plans to expand its presence in Africa by utilizing RAPP funding to better understand and develop dairy import regulations and regulatory frameworks in many markets.

The U.S. Meat Export Federation plans to expand its export efforts to new markets in the ASEAN region and throughout Africa, as well as enhance its investment in the convenience store segment in South Korea, Central America and Colombia.

To view the complete list of organizations that received RAPP funding, visit fas.usda.gov. 

Source: USDA