The "Agriculture Export Promotion Act of 2025" aims to boost U.S. agricultural exports by increasing funding for the Market Access Program and the Foreign Market Development Cooperator Program.
Dan Newhouse
Representative
WA-4
The "Agriculture Export Promotion Act of 2025" aims to bolster U.S. agricultural exports by increasing funding for the Market Access Program and the Foreign Market Development Cooperator Program. It amends the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 to extend and significantly increase financial support for these programs through 2029. These changes seek to address the competitive disadvantage faced by U.S. producers due to increased foreign competition and the impact of inflation on static funding levels. By increasing funding, the Act strives to enhance access to foreign markets, stimulate economic growth, and create jobs within the agricultural sector.
Ag Exports Get a Boost: New Bill Doubles Funding for Promotion Programs Through 2029
The Agriculture Export Promotion Act of 2025 is pretty straightforward: it's giving a major cash injection to existing programs that help U.S. farmers and agricultural businesses sell their goods overseas. Specifically, it's doubling the annual funding for two key programs – the Market Access Program (MAP) and the Foreign Market Development Cooperator Program (FMDP) – from $200 million to $400 million and from $34.5 million to $69 million, respectively, each year through 2029 (SEC. 3). These are the programs that help with things like advertising American-grown products in foreign markets and connecting producers with international buyers.
Dollars and Sense
So, what's the point of all this extra money? The bill itself points out that funding for these programs hasn't increased in years – since 2006 for MAP and 2002 for FMDP (SEC. 2). That means inflation has been eating away at their effectiveness. By doubling the funding, Congress is betting that it will significantly boost exports. They're citing some impressive numbers: from 1977 to 2019, these programs added an average of $9.6 billion annually to agricultural exports, and every dollar invested brought back $24.50 (SEC. 2). They also claim that from 2002-2019, the programs helped create up to 225,800 jobs (SEC.2).
Real-World Rollout
For farmers and agricultural businesses, this could mean more opportunities to tap into foreign markets. Think of a wheat farmer in Kansas. Increased funding could mean more targeted advertising campaigns for American wheat in, say, Southeast Asia, potentially leading to new contracts and increased sales for that farmer. It is important to note, however, that the bill also mentions that private sector contributions have become increasingly important, making up 70%-77% of export promotion funds between 2013 and 2019 (SEC.2). The bill anticipates that a doubling in public funding will encourage a 10% to 20% increase in these private contributions (SEC.2).
The Bigger Picture
This bill is all about global competition. The text explicitly states that other countries have been ramping up their own agricultural export promotion efforts, putting the U.S. at a disadvantage (SEC. 2). It is worth keeping in mind that while this bill focuses on making American agriculture more competitive, its success will also hinge on things like trade agreements and tariffs, which are outside the scope of this specific legislation. While the bill projects an average annual gain of $7.4 billion in agricultural exports with the increased funding, realizing those gains will depend on navigating those broader trade dynamics (SEC. 2).