New Study Confirms Success of U.S. Agricultural Export Market Development Programs

A new econometric study indicates that public-private U.S. agricultural export market development programs remain highly effective and generate a substantial return on investment. The econometric study was conducted by agricultural economists from IHS Markit and Texas A&M University to provide concrete evidence of the positive economic impact of programs such as USDA’s Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development Program (FMD). According to a press release from the Coalition to Promote Agricultural Exports (of which USDBC is a member), the data showed export programs have added an average of $9.6 billion per year to export value between 1977 and 2019. The press release notes that “For farmers, livestock producers, and dairy operators, the study showed MAP and FMD increased cash receipts by $12.2 billion per year. The programs also added 225,800 new jobs across the entire U.S. economy.” This data is critical as we begin to consider the specific asks for the next Farm Bill which is currently being discussed in consultations. USDBC along with our coalition members believes strongly that the funding for these programs should be maintained in the next farm bill at a level of at least $200 million for the Market Access Program (MAP) and $34.5 million for the Foreign Market Development (FMD) program in FY2023. But ideally, this allocation should be increased and indexed for the increased cost of doing business, increased need to be competitive in the global marketplace, and the fact that more agricultural trade groups continue to share an allocation that has been maintained at the same level as when fewer groups participated in these programs.

According to Gary Williams, one of the study authors, “Our work indicated that MAP and FMD have accounted for 13.7%, or almost $648 billion, of all the revenue generated by U.S. agricultural exports between 1977 and 2019,” “The additional export revenue bolsters the entire U.S agricultural sector and creates a multiplier effect throughout the U.S. economy.” USDBC has always been active and vocal in emphasizing the critical impact of the MAP, FMD, and other agricultural market development programs by stressing the importance of our public/private partnership with USDA/FAS, supporting it with industry contributions, and by staying active in a number of coalitions that allow us to send a unified message to legislative and administrative authorities on the need to continue to fund and increase funding of these programs.  We also submit a number of success stories every year that show the specific instances of how these programs have helped us remain competitive and achieve our promotion goals around the world.