Market Access Program funds leverage potato grower dollars
Farm and Ranch Report May 11, 2011 The USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service has finalized fiscal year 2011 awards for the Market Access Program or MAP. The MAP funding can be used to expand export markets and John Toaspern, Vice President of International Marketing for the U.S. Potato Board, says the Board’s allocation increased this year.
Toaspern: “The Board received a total allocation for marketing year 11 of $5,368,339.00. This is a 4.2% increase over the funding received for the previous marketing year.”
The 5.3 million dollars in MAP funds is combined with about 3.9 million in grower dollars contributed for Potato Board international marketing programs.
Toaspern: “So you can see we are leveraging those grower dollars substantially with the MAP funds.”
Toaspern says that money is further leveraged by applying for other USDA funding such as the Quality Samples Program. And it is all done with one purpose in mind.
Toaspern: “Our job as the Potato Board is to create demand, to create net new sales in these foreign markets and that is what we are able to do with these dollars and certainly the last few years we have been very successful.”
That’s the U.S. Potato Update. Brought to you by the United States Potato Board, maximizing return on grower investment. I’m Bob Hoff for Northwest Aginfo Net.
