June 28, 1999

In a far cry from the halcyon days when the program was popular and unscathed, USDA has announced $90 million in allocations to 65 U.S. trade organizations for export promotion activities under the Market Access Program (MAP). The U.S. Meat Export Federation leads the way with $8.3 million to spend.

The program began in 1986 with $200 million to spend on market promotion each year. But criticism over money going to large food companies to promote their products overseas resulted in a chipping away at the total until it reached the $90 million level. Funds are from USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation for agreements with domestic ag trade groups, state regional groups and cooperatives. The Foreign Agricultural Service administers the program.

All program applications go through a competitive review process that compares the performance of each applicant to all others on the basis of four weighted criteria: the degree to which the applicant will contribute resources to the program, historic export performance, projected export goals and accuracy of past export goals.

Other multi-million dollar recipients include the American Forest & Paper Association ($6 million), Cotton Council International ($8 million), Florida Department of Citrus ($4 million) and the Mid-America International Agri-Trade Council ($5.2 million)