Meat & Livestock News

USDA Allocates £1.3 Billion for New Agricultural Export Initiative

Organic fresh agricultural product at farmer market

The USDA is allocating £1.3 billion for marketing American agricultural products in foreign lands. This is a chunk of a broader £2.3 billion financial plan meant to help U.S. farmers flourish globally. In revealing the plan, Tom Vilsack, who oversees agriculture matters, noted that it was spurred by united voices from Senate members focused on farming.

The Senate’s farming panel suggests tapping into the Commodity Credit Corporation’s reserves. The aim is to confront trade snags and ensure global food security, benefiting both U.S. producers and people around the world.

The committee urged the USDA to utilise resources from the Commodity Credit Corporation to tackle current trade barriers and food security concerns affecting both American farmers and the global community.

The £1.3 billion will be channelled into the Regional Agriculture Promotion Programme, with a focus on supporting speciality crop sectors to diversify their export destinations. Vilsack emphasised that facilitating access to new markets will enable American agricultural and food products to meet demand in areas where they are most needed.

The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) expressed its endorsement of the new programme. In an official statement, the organisation highlighted the effectiveness of existing schemes like the USDA Market Access Program (MAP) and the Foreign Market Development (FMD) Program.

These programmes have historically offered valuable returns to American producers. The statement also noted that as funding for the Agricultural Trade Promotion Program (ATP) is concluding, fresh investments in foreign market development are both timely and welcome.