McLEAN, VA – The U.S. Agricultural Export Development Council (USAEDC), that represents and promotes the export promotion interests of growers and processors of U.S. agricultural products, welcomed U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins to their annual meeting last week where she expressed her appreciation and support for “the greatest of all American industries: American agriculture.”
Speaking about the recently passed H.R. 1, she noted that much of the bill was about cutting government spending, realigning government programs, and the fact that it also included a doubling of funding for export promotion programs that she said was a huge and positive sign for America’s farmers.
The week’s events also included the attaché seminar, a speed-dating style session with USDA Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) to talk about issues U.S. rice faces in various countries.
“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 Director of Trade Policy, Karah Janevicius. “We noted our support for trade negotiations and other methods to address trade priorities in the United Kingdom, Japan, and South Korea, 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, and other topics relevant to the cooperator community. The keynote speaker, Andreas Duess from 6 Seeds (who presented at the 2025 USA Rice Outlook Conference), discussed how AI-powered consumer research could be used to promote U.S. products effectively and efficiently.
USA Rice is a longtime member of USAEDC and serves on the Board of Directors.