Sheep Industry News July 2024

FAS offers five programs that provide funding for ASI in this area: • Regional Agricultural Promotion Program: Provides funding for projects that enable exporters to break into new markets and increase market share in growth markets. • Foreign Market Development Program: Provides coop erator organizations with cost-share funding for activities that build international demand for U.S. agricultural com modities. • Market Access Program: Helps finance activities to mar ket and promote U.S. agricultural commodities and products worldwide. • Quality Samples Program: Helps U.S. organizations pro vide small samples of their agricultural products to potential customers overseas. • Agricultural Trade Promotion Program: Provides cost share funding to help U.S. agricultural exporters develop new markets and mitigate the adverse effects of other coun tries’ trade barriers. RAPP is the newest program, and ASI was recently awarded up to $1.2 million to market American wool in di versified, high-potential markets during the next five years. RAPP funds must be used in new and emerging markets, which in the case of American wool will include India, Japan, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and South America. “It’s important that we continue to develop new markets

for American wool,” Samuelson said. “China has long been the leading buyer of the wool that we ship overseas, but the trade war and the pandemic showed us that we can’t rely solely on China to buy all of our wool. We’re seeing manu facturing move to some of these other areas, and we need to be positioned to market our great, all-natural product to those countries, as well.” Additional reverse trade missions are in the works this summer and could include buyers from Bulgaria, South Africa and India.

12 • Sheep Industry News • sheepusa.org