The Foreign Market Development Program was launched to help create, expand, and maintain long-term export markets for U.S. producers, and once every five years USDA conducts a study focusing on market access and these programs.
This year Texas A&M University researchers found the FMD Program is helping increase economic benefits and export market opportunities.
“That the math and FMD programs increase exports by about $9.6 billion annually, which represents about 13.7 percent of ag, fish, and forestry exports... The study determined that the U.S. ag export value increased by $24.50 for every dollar invested in export market development,” according to Mark Slupek, Foreign Ag Service Deputy Administrator.
He adds that altogether these programs put $45 billion dollars annually into the economic output and $22.3 billion dollars in gross domestic product, creating thousands of U.S. jobs.
