Speed-dating session with new USDA Foreign Service Officers
Jul 17, 2023
McLEAN, VA – The U.S. Agricultural Export Development Council (USAEDC), which represents and promotes the export promotion interests of growers and processors of U.S. agricultural products, celebrated its 40th anniversary during their annual summer conference last week.
The week’s events included the attaché seminar, a speed-dating style session with U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foreign Service Officers (FSO) heading to their new overseas posts later this summer.
“Over the course of an afternoon, we met with several USDA FSOs from all over to the world to discuss the tariff and non-tariff barriers we’re facing in several markets,” said USA Rice Vice President for Policy & Government Affairs Peter Bachmann. “We noted our support for trade negotiations and other methods to improve market access in the United Kingdom, Japan, China, and also talked about our successful promotions in more than two dozen overseas markets.”
Following the attaché seminar, USAEDC also hosted a conference to discuss agricultural trends, policy updates from USDA, the Ukraine/Russia crisis, and other topics relevant to the cooperator community. The keynote speaker, Liz Moskow, discussed futurecasting and how she tries to understand the drivers of consumer behavior, which included how artificial intelligence may be able to stimulate the sensations of eating without any food being consumed, a troubling thought for any agricultural cooperator group.
Ambassador Doug McKalip, chief agricultural negotiator at the Office of the United States Trade Representative and USDA Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Alexis Taylor talked about how 2022 was a record year for U.S. agricultural exports, market access wins in a few markets, and noted how the U.S. is leading in climate smart technologies. USDA Foreign Agricultural Service Administrator Daniel Whitley noted that the average age in Africa is 19 while the average age in U.S. agriculture’s top five export markets is 45, so more resources should be devoted to where future import demand will be.
“We learned a lot from the speakers here and had great networking opportunities with USDA and other cooperator groups; we’re looking forward to conducting some joint promotions with USDA’s SaborUSA campaign and others later this year,” said Asiha Grigsby, USA Rice director of international promotion for the Western Hemisphere.
Earlier in the week, the Coalition to Promote U.S. Agricultural Exports, the group representing the vast majority of USAEDC members who are Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development Program (FMD) cooperators, held a briefing on Capitol Hill for Congressional staff to appeal for increased funding in the 2023 Farm Bill. The Coalition is advocating for increased funding levels for MAP and FMD of $400 million and $69 million, respectively. The USDA cost-share programs promote U.S. market development efforts overseas and boost agricultural exports, bringing in significant additional revenue over the years. Neither program has gotten a raise in more than 15 years. The group says MAP and FMD are past due for additional funding considering recent developments like the EU’s $210.6 million investment in agri-food product promotion and RCEP, the $200 billion Asia-Pacific FTA that went into effect last year.
"It was great to see a room full of Congressional interest regarding the programs and it is encouraging that the Coalition to Promote U.S. Agricultural Exports has been able to get so many champions in Congress,” said USA Rice summer intern Philip Haynie who attended the briefing. “Based on the conversations during the briefing, the biggest challenge will be identifying a funding source for increased MAP and FMD levels but there definitely seems to be a desire across the board to make some upward adjustments.”
USA Rice is a longtime member of USAEDC and the Coalition to Promotion U.S. Agricultural Exports and is actively advocating for an increase in program funding for both MAP and FMD as part of the organization’s 2023 Farm Bill principles.