Two USDA programs that share the cost of developing markets overseas for U.S. farm exports have a return on investment of 28 to 1, says a study by Informa Economics and released by U.S. Wheat Associates. The study said the Market Access Program (MAP) and the Foreign Market Development (FMD) program boosted farm export revenue by $8.2 billion annually from 1977-2014.
“In other words, these programs have accounted for 15 percent of all the revenue generated by exports for U.S. agriculture over that time,” said economist Gary Williams of Texas A&M. “To me, such a positive result is just stunning.”
Under MAP and FMD, the USDA provides a partial match of funding by industry groups to encourage use overseas of U.S exports. Funding for MAP has been set at $200 million a year since 2006, and FMD has received $34.5 million a year since 2002. Industry groups supply about 70 percent of total funding.