| What is
the Foreign
Market Development Program? |
| The Foreign
Market Development program (FMD), also know as the
"Cooperator Program," is administered by the
Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the U.S. Department
of Agriculture(USDA). The program is aimed at removing
trade barriers and constraints to developing,
maintaining, and expanding long-term export markets for
U.S. agricultural products. FAS enters into a contract
agreement with a nonprofit U.S. agricultural trade
organization that has submitted a marketing strategy that
describes acceptable market situations, budgets and
activity plans. Upon approval, funding allocations are
established with a competitive process. During the
marketing year, incurred expenses of the Cooperator are
itemized and submitted to FAS for reimbursement. The
program is authorized by Title VII of the Agricultural
Trade Act of 1978, 7 U.S.C. 5721, et seq., and carried
out in accordance with the policies and procedures set
forth in 11 FASG, the FMD Guidelines. The annual program
is announced in the Federal Register prior to the
beginning of the fiscal year in which it will be
implemented. In recent years, it has been funded at
around $34 million. |
| Who can participate?
|
The
FMD program allows producers of U.S. agricultural
products, except tobacco, including those associated with
small-volume export commodities, to participate in
efforts to build export markets. Preference is given to
nonprofit U.S. agricultural and trade organizations that
represent an entire industry or are nationwide in
membership and scope. FMD agreements with private
organizations may be approved provided the following
three conditions exist:
(1) It can be determined that
such an agreement will assist in developing,
maintaining, or expanding foreign markets for
U.S. agricultural commodities.
2) The market development
activities would not otherwise be undertaken by a
nonprofit U.S. agricultural trade organization.
(3) A nonprofit U.S.agricultural
trade organization designates a particular
private organization to act in its behalf.
|
| How does the
program work? |
Prior to the
beginning of each fiscal year an announcement of the
available funds is published in the Federal Register.
This announcement states the address and closing date for
applications, who can participate, the criteria for
allocating available funds, and how to get more
information. To initiate a project agreement, the
applicant submits a written proposal containing the
necessary information and signatures as outlined in a
handbook. For best results the format presented in this
handbook should be used. An application containing: a
description of the commodity, the level of funding
requested, an indication of the amount the applicant will
contribute; a strategic plan describing the world market
situation, the competition from other exporters, and the
goals and performance standards for the desired
commodity; and a marketing plan defining the activities
and budgets addressing constraints is submitted. The
proposals are reviewed by a panel for completeness and
approval criteria. Upon acceptance and approval for
funding, the Cooperator's incurred expenses during the
program year are itemized and submitted to FAS for
reimbursement. All agreements are subject to audits for
which the cooperator is held accountable for the
maintenance of proper documentation.
|
| What commodities are
eligible? |
| Approximately 40
commodity groups representing specific agricultural
products such as, feed grains, wheat, soybeans, rice,
tallow, dairy cattle, red meats, poultry, eggs, seafood,
forest products, dry beans, frozen potatoes, ginseng,
grapes, honey, hops, kiwifruit, peanuts, pears, pet food,
pistachios, poultry meat, prunes, raisins, rice, salmon,
strawberries, sunflower seeds, surimi, tomato products,
and walnuts are eligible and participate in the program.
Tobacco and tobacco products are not eligible for
participation in this program. Marketing plans and
activities focus more on generic U.S. commodities, rather
than consumer oriented promotions. |
| What is
"generic"
promotion? |
Marketing
activities that promote the characteristics of a whole
group or class as opposed to activities that proclaim
distinctions or uniqueness of one product from the
general class of products is known as generic promotion.
Products such as wheat, grain, eggs, and oranges are
scarcely differentiable because the substantive content
is not unique between different producers. Since the
products from various producers are not differentiable,
the sales power generated from generic promotion
activities is shared equally by all producers.
|
| What information are
Cooperators required to provide the public upon request? |
Since the Foreign
Agricultural Service, per se, doesn't maintain copies of
all the information in Cooperators' offices, any request
for that information would be exempt from the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA). The only material/information
that is considered U.S. government property is material
containing market information (market research) that was
developed and produced under a program agreement.
Cooperators are under no legal obligation to make all
material available to the press or the public.
Confidential business information is covered by an FOIA
exemption, if it can be documented that substantial
competitive harm would likely result if the information
were released. Information cannot be withheld on the
basis of speculative harm or that the information is not
normally made available to the public.
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