Ag News
USDA awards Agricultural Trade Promotion funding
Posted on Feb 06, 2019 at 0:00 AM
On Jan. 31, the USDA awarded $200 million to 57 organizations through the Agricultural Trade Promotion Program (ATP) to help U.S. farmers and ranchers identify and access new export markets. The ATP is one of three USDA programs created to mitigate the effects of trade retaliation against U.S. farmers and exporters. USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) accepted ATP applications between Sept. 4 and Nov. 2 from U.S. trade associations, cooperatives, and other industry-affiliated organizations.
USDA has released a list of the ATP funding recipients, which can be viewed at www.fas.usda.gov/atp-funding-allocations. Among the recipients with Georgia ties are the American Peanut Council ($1.9 million), the American Soybean Association ($21.9 million), Cotton Council International ($9.1 million), the National Watermelon Promotion Board ($50,000), Southern United States Trade Association ($12.6 million), the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council ($259,953), U.S. Pecan Growers Council ($1.3 million) and the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council ($1.4 million).
President Donald Trump authorized up to $12 billion in programs to provide assistance to U.S. agriculture through a trade mitigation package announced by Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Sept. 4, 2018. In addition to the $200 million allocated to the ATP, the package also included the Market Facilitation Program to provide payments to farmers harmed by retaliatory tariffs, and a food purchase and distribution program to assist producers of targeted commodities.
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