Ag Policy Blog

USDA will make an additional $300 million available to commodity groups through the Regional Agricultural Promotion Program (RAPP) to help U.S. exporters market American farm and food products around the world, Deputy Agriculture Secretary Xochitl Torres Small announced Monday.

"Access to international markets supports U.S. farmers at home and food security throughout the world," said Torres Small.

"USDA launched RAPP last year as part of the Biden-Harris administration's commitment to create more new and better markets for U.S. producers and agribusinesses, and we've seen tremendous interest, culminating in more than a billion dollars in proposals for the first $300 million round of RAPP funding earlier this year," she said.

The funding announcement comes as the value of U.S. agricultural exports has fallen while imports have grown. The agricultural trade deficit through the first five months of the year reached $15 billion, according to Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) data.

USDA published a Notice of Funding Opportunity on Grants.gov on Monday and interested organizations must apply by October 4. USDA anticipates that allocations will be announced before the end of the calendar year.

"As with the first round of RAPP funding, USDA is again setting aside $25 million specifically for activities in Africa, which has the some of the fastest-growing economies -- but the lowest levels of U.S. export market investment -- of any region in the world," USDA said in a news release.

The Regional Agricultural Promotion Program is a cost-share program that is designed to reimburse nonprofit U.S. agricultural trade organizations, state regional trade groups, U.S. agricultural cooperatives, and state agencies that conduct approved market development activities to foster expanded exports and market diversification by encouraging the development, maintenance, and expansion of diverse commercial export markets for United States agricultural commodities and products.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced last October that USDA would use $1.2 billion from the Commodity Credit Corporation to establish RAPP to help U.S. exporters expand their customer base beyond established markets such as China, Mexico and Canada, which collectively account for nearly half of all current export sales.

In May, USDA allocated the first $300 million in RAPP funding to 66 U.S. organizations to implement hundreds of market development projects focusing on a wide range of products and markets.

Dan Halstrom, president and CEO of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, said the first tranche of RAPP funding is already helping develop new opportunities for production such as pork, beef and lamb.

"RAPP's emphasis on market diversification is especially critical, as it allows for dedication of resources in markets where demand has only scratched the surface," Halstrom said. "In this respect, RAPP is an excellent complement to USDA's Market Access Program and Foreign Market Development Program, as well as the checkoff investments of our industry partners, which allow USMEF to expand and defend market share in both emerging and well-developed destinations."

Vilsack established RAPP at the request of Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., the ranking member on the Senate Agriculture Committee.

After USDA said U.S. agriculture imports were exceeding exports, Stabenow and Boozman said USDA needed to take more actions to promote trade. RAPP was established in addition to the existing trade promotion programs.

In a news release, Stabenow said: "Farmers have been clear that one of their top priorities is strengthening trade opportunities so that they can thrive in a global market."

"With the RAPP program entering its second year, the Biden-Harris administration is making a real investment in growing new markets for American agriculture. I look forward to continuing to work with the administration and farmers on this exciting new program that will effectively double trade promotion investments."

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

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Jerry Hagstrom can be reached at jhagstrom@nationaljournal.com

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