U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced the second round of Regional Agricultural Promotion Program (RAPP) grants, allocating $300 million to [67 partners] once all legal and administrative requirements are satisfied to expand American food and agricultural exports in emerging global markets.
This latest investment brings total RAPP funding to $600 million in 2024.
The new grants aim to diversify export markets in regions with rising consumer demand and purchasing power, including Africa, Latin America/the Caribbean, and South/Southeast Asia. These regions offer significant opportunities for U.S. producers seeking to establish a stronger foothold in dynamic and growing markets.
“RAPP is a critical tool for helping U.S. producers and agribusinesses stay competitive in today’s global trading environment,” Secretary Vilsack said. “The Biden-Harris approach to trade is delivering results for U.S. agriculture through record exports and improved relationships with current and future trading partners, and this investment supports actions that build on the global demand for American agriculture’s high-quality products.”
Under the Biden-Harris administration, U.S. agricultural exports have grown significantly, posting the three highest years in history in 2021, 2022, and 2023 – including a record of nearly $196 billion in 2022 and nearly $175 billion in 2023. USDA and the United States Trade Representative (USTR) have helped to secure over $26.7 billion in agricultural market access since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration.
In Fiscal Year 2024, the actions of USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service helped preserve $8.8 billion in total U.S. agricultural exports. Since 2022, USDA has issued $9.4 billion in loan payment guarantees to facilitate the diversification of U.S. agricultural export markets. USDA also leveraged $2.3 billion in Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) funds in 2024 to help U.S. agriculture export market development efforts and combat global food insecurity. In addition to RAPP, $100 million was targeted for aid to address the unique challenges for speciality crop producers seeking to enhance market growth opportunities by exporting. Separately, USDA is using $1 billion of the CCC funds to support international food assistance programs and strengthen global food security, which benefits U.S. agricultural producers.
This second round of funding reinforces USDA’s commitment to diversification, with $25 million set aside for projects focused on Africa. Proposals for this round exceeded the available funding, with eligible entities submitting more than $1 billion in project requests. The first $300 million in RAPP funds, announced in May 2024, has already helped U.S. producers tap into new overseas opportunities. RAPP builds on the success of the Agricultural Trade Promotion Program (ATP), launched in 2018 to mitigate the risks of overreliance on a few large markets.
Applications for the second round of funding opened in August 2024, and USDA received proposals from agricultural trade organisations, state regional trade groups, agricultural cooperatives, and state agencies. These projects will play a critical role in establishing new market opportunities and sustaining existing ones for U.S. producers.
Secretary Vilsack announced in October 2023 that USDA would use $1.2 billion from the Commodity Credit Corporation to establish RAPP, with a focus on diversifying international demand for U.S. agricultural exports beyond established markets such as China, Mexico, and Canada, which collectively account for nearly 50 per cent of current export sales. RAPP focuses on parts of the world where the middle class is growing and the desire for high-quality food and farm products is on the rise, but where U.S. exporters may not yet have an established presence or firm foothold.
USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy and nutritious food in all communities, and building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate-smart food and forestry practices. USDA is making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America.
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