With the window rapidly closing for Congress to pass a farm bill this year, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Oct. 24 that USDA is providing $2.3 billion to maintain trade promotion and international food aid.
The funding is coming out of the Commodity Credit Corporation, at the request of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Mr. Vilsack told reporters.
Of that $2.3 billion, $1.3 billion will go to the new Regional Agricultural Promotion program and to support for specialty crop industries to diversify export markets. The remaining $1 billion will help address global hunger.
The United States ran an agricultural trade deficit of $19 billion in fiscal year 2023, according to Mr. Vilsack. USDA has projected that the deficit it will grow to $27.5 billion in fiscal 2024.
USDA’s trade promotion investment helps keep existing markets open and creates access to new markets. The funding also will be used to invest in non-traditional markets to help the US producers to diversify away from dependence on a handful of large markets.
The new $1.3 billion investment in a Regional Agricultural Promotion Program will enable exporters to break into new markets and increase market share in growth markets, according to USDA. Investment in providing targeted technical assistance to the specialty crops industry will help it enter and expand markets that often impose onerous non-tariff barriers on their products.
Five years ago, in reaction to the trade war with China, USDA developed the Agricultural Trade Promotion Program to help exporters diversify their markets. The funds from ATP will expire next year and with that, many exporters are already curtailing their activities. Without being on the ground in markets, it is nearly impossible to build the trust and relationships needed to create opportunities. The RAPP will address this critical loss and ensure continuity of the relationships key to market development.
The $1 billion for food aid will respond to challenges to supply chains and on-going conflicts that have exacerbated what was already a dire situation of increased numbers of people experiencing food insecurity globally, USDA said. An estimated 205 million people need life-saving food assistance, and some 768 million people are facing chronic hunger, according to the Global Report on Food Crises and FAO. US agriculture is well positioned to help fill these gaps as it produces more commodities than are consumed, and therefore has the opportunity to extend this food, via a USDA donation, to those who are in need.
USDA will purchase commodities and work with the US Agency for International Development, the lead federal agency on international emergency food aid programs, to ensure they reach those most in need around the world. The $1 billion donation will bolster ongoing efforts to address global hunger, as well as support US agriculture through the purchase of surplus commodities.
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