U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) celebrated the announcement that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA-FAS) has awarded the organization more than $3.57 million through the America First Trade Promotion Program (AFTPP) to help expand export markets for U.S. food and agricultural products.

U.S. Wheat intends to leverage AFTPP funding to reposition U.S.-grown wheat – the most reliable supply of high-quality wheat in the world – as the go-to supplier for governments and consumers, who can be long-term sources of demand for U.S. farmers.

“Through the unique focus of the AFTPP, USW is proposing innovative ideas and new models of cooperation to invest in future demand drivers,” said U.S. Wheat President and CEO Mike Spier. “This proposal does not include simply adding more participants to existing technical educational courses or bringing more customers to the United States on a trade team – although these activities have plenty of merit. Rather, we gathered our global team to rethink what we can do through AFTPP to conduct market development work in new ways.”

Chief among the innovative ideas is a return to consumer-focused marketing in key markets, including the Philippines, Japan, Taiwan and Egypt. The reputation of U.S. wheat as high-quality stands in these markets, as does the demand for U.S.-produced goods.

That reputation as U.S. wheat as a critical ingredient applies not only to human consumption, but as an animal feed ingredient. AFTPP funding will allow USW to expand our successful technical and trade servicing efforts into new support for wheat’s role in the global protein supply chain. This work will focus on high-value aquaculture markets, particularly shrimp and salmon, in the Western Hemisphere, including research demonstrating the nutritional and performance benefits of U.S. wheat in premium feed formulations and establishing new relationships with feed manufacturers and end-product customers within these growing industries.

All across its supply chain, U.S. wheat depends on the successful public-private partnership between USW’s state wheat commission members and USDA-FAS export market development programs. Checkoff contributions qualify USW to apply for matching funds through programs like the MAP and the FMD program. U.S. Wheat leverages those combined funds to position the six classes of U.S. wheat as the world’s most reliable source of high-quality wheat for global milling and baking operations.

U.S. Wheat is one of 55 nonprofit organizations and cooperatives to receive funding through AFTPP. As part of the USDA market development program portfolio, AFTPP is designed to help exporters leverage these market opportunities.

“We look forward to the opportunity to leverage the AFTPP funding to expand our global work,” Spier said. “U.S. Wheat and the USDA have a long-standing history of partnering together with a solid return on investment and we are excited to pursue these innovative approaches for developing and expanding markets for U.S. farmers.”