Committed to its Market Access Program (MAP), Potatoes USA received USD5,242,949 from the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) for the 2022-2023 marketing year.
This, combined with additional funding from other FAS programs such as the Agricultural Trade Promotion Program (ATP) and the Quality Samples Program (QSP), will allow promotional efforts in target markets to have an even greater impact.
This financing from the USDA’s Market Access Program will be utilized in 15 targeted international markets, including one new market to the MAP portfolio: the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. After seeing great progress made in the GCC region through the ATP program, the market was added to Potatoes USA’s Unified Export Strategy as an official target market for 2022/23.
MAP funding will support the foodservice, retail, consumer, seed potato, and market access programs in these markets. These programs all work toward the overarching goal of strengthening the demand for U.S. potatoes. Marketing activities funded by MAP include foodservice and retail promotions, education and technical training for the trade, menu development work, trade merchandising, U.S. potato recipe development, nutrition education for consumers, and more.
These activities have had great impacts, which contributed to USDA’s decision to increase funding.
According to a study in 2016, MAP provides USD28 in export gains per USD1 spent by the government and industry on international market development, and with potato exports accounting for approximately 20% of the US’ production, this funding can lead to significant benefits for the industry.
Potatoes USA looks forward to utilizing this funding in the upcoming marketing year to continue increasing exports and market share for US potatoes.
