WASHINGTON, DC – Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture/Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA/FAS) released the 2025 Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development (FMD) allocations, with USA Rice receiving nearly $5 million, in addition to the $6.5 million in Regional Agricultural Promotion Program (RAPP) funds allocated at the end of last year (see
USA Rice Daily, December 19, 2024).
“We appreciate the Administration's and particularly USDA Secretary Rollins’ recognition of the importance and value of the international trade promotion programs to the agricultural industry,” said USA Rice President & CEO Peter Bachmann. “Given the extremely challenging economic environment U.S. rice farmers are in this year, our work to promote U.S. rice overseas will be more important than ever.”
USA Rice utilizes a combination of state checkoff funds, industry dues, and federal funds to conduct marketing activities aimed at increasing the volume and value of all types and forms of U.S. rice exports in nearly two dozen overseas markets.
“Nearly half of the U.S. rice crop is exported; these international marketing programs are vital for us to maintain exports in some countries and expanding exports in others,” said Steve Vargas, senior vice president of global rice trading for Sun Valley Rice and chair of the USA Rice International Promotion Committee. “We conduct cost-share activities in many markets and those importers of U.S. rice would not be able to conduct promotional activities, which increase the sales of U.S. rice, without the MAP and FMD programs.”
USA Rice also received an additional $73,000 on behalf of the U.S. wild rice associations, the California Wild Rice Advisory Board and the Minnesota Cultivated Wild Rice Council, to develop promotional activities for those products as well.