Market Access Program

A bipartisan group of four senators, including two members of the Senate Agriculture Committee, proposed doubling funding over the next five years for two USDA programs that promote U.S. farm exports. The senators acted as Congress prepares to write the 2018 farm bill, which usually includes export programs.

Six U.S. representatives proposed to double, over a five-year period, the funding for two USDA programs that share costs with the private sector in developing overseas markets for American foods. The statutory funding levels for the Market Access Program (MAP) and the Foreign Market Development program (FMD) have not been increased in more than a decade, said lead sponsors Dan Newhouse and Chellie Pingree.

The Agriculture Department awarded $200 million through two programs to help 70 agricultural organizations build overseas markets for U.S. farm exports, which generate 20 cents of each $1 in net cash farm income. Most of the money, $173.5 million, will flow through the cost-sharing Market Access Program (MAP).

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.