The USDA has added $300 million for a second round of Regional Agricultural Promotion Program grants. These grants will allocate funding to 67 partners to help expand food and agricultural exports in emerging global markets such as Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and South and Southeast Asia, according to a news release.
The USDA said the total funding this year for RAPP grants is $600 million and that it set aside $25 million for projects focused on Africa. Proposals for this round exceeded the available funding, with eligible entities submitting more than $1 billion in project requests.
USDA said its first $300 million in RAPP funds, announced May 2024, has already helped U.S. producers tap into new overseas opportunities
Applications for the second round of funding opened in August 2024, and USDA said it received proposals from agricultural trade organizations, state regional trade groups, agricultural cooperatives and state agencies.
USDA said U.S. agricultural exports have grown significantly, posting the three highest years in history in 2021, 2022 and 2023 — including a record of nearly $196 billion in 2022 and nearly $175 billion in 2023. USDA said it and the U.S. trade representative have helped to secure over $26.7 billion in agricultural market access since the start of the Biden-Harris administration.
In this fiscal year, USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service helped preserve $8.8 billion in total U.S. agricultural exports, according to the release. USDA said it has issued $9.4 billion in loan payment guarantees since 2022 to facilitate the diversification of U.S. agricultural export markets. USDA also leveraged $2.3 billion in Commodity Credit Corporation funds in 2024 to help U.S. agriculture export market development efforts and combat global food insecurity.
In addition to RAPP, $100 million was targeted for aid to address the unique challenges for specialty crop producers seeking to enhance market growth opportunities by exporting. Separately, USDA is using $1 billion of the CCC funds to support international food assistance programs and strengthen global food security, which benefits U.S. agricultural producers.
“RAPP is a critical tool for helping U.S. producers and agribusinesses stay competitive in today’s global trading environment,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in the release. “The Biden-Harris approach to trade is delivering results for U.S. agriculture through record exports and improved relationships with current and future trading partners, and this investment supports actions that build on the global demand for American agriculture’s high-quality products.”
