The U.S. Agricultural Export Development Council (USAEDC)

The U.S. Agricultural Export Development Council (USAEDC) is a non-profit private sector trade association with the following objectives:

1. To provide a forum and an organizational structure for the exchange and coordination of information among its members and between them collectively and other groups, agencies and individuals;
2. To cooperate with all branches of the government and the private sector to promote the export of the products of U.S. agriculture;
3. To engage in any lawful activity, including the making and carrying out of any contract necessary, suitable, and proper for the accomplishment of its purposes and to do or perform every other act or thing incidental or pertaining to its aforesaid purposes and powers.

USAEDC's approximately 80 members are U.S. commodity trade associations, farmer cooperatives and state regional trade groups from around the country, representing the interests of growers and processors of a variety of U.S. agricultural products. They have come together under the USAEDC umbrella to assist them in their export promotion efforts, specifically those in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service.

While USAEDC's members are privately funded, they cooperate closely with USDA/FAS in developing overseas markets for U.S. agricultural exports. These activities focus on increasing the knowledge of and demand for U.S. agricultural exports by any combination of the following target audiences in a foreign market: consumer, processor, distributor, and/or importer. Promotional and development activities may include market research, trade missions, reverse trade teams, literature, trade shows, in-store promotions, demonstrations, ongoing evaluations, etc. USAEDC members and USDA/FAS jointly fund these activities. You may read more about this vital partnership in USAEDC's Briefing Book. Tab I explains why there is a Public/Private Partnership while Tab II describes how the partnership developed. Tab III demonstrates why the partnerships are important, highlighting Success Stories of some of the private partners. Finally, Tab IV outlines the rest of the FAS "Toolbox" available to the participants.

USAEDC serves as an information resource for its members about FAS, legislative and other efforts in Washington, D.C., which may affect their ability to export or conduct export promotion and development programs, as well as media reports on these programs. USAEDC also serves as a forum for its members and USDA/FAS to discuss the operation and implementation of these programs overseas.

In May of 1955, one of the current members of USAEDC signed an agreement with the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) for research and development of their commodity worldwide, and became the first agricultural market development cooperator. Over the ensuing years, scores of other non-profit U.S. agricultural groups have joined in this joint public-private partnership that was to become a key factor in expanding U.S. farm markets overseas.

The roles of these cooperators had been foreseen in the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of July 1954 (P.L. 480), which recognized that American agriculture, when given the green light, would produce vastly more than the American people could consume. The Congress and others at that time recognized that the United States had a bounty that should be utilized not only for the benefit of U.S. consumers but also for the growing populations in other parts of the world. The potential for commercial agricultural sales was there; all that remained was to develop the markets for the abundance of U.S. farms.

Thus, soon after the passage of P.L. 480 - and following exhaustive studies of the appropriate role of government in expanding farm trade - the USDA initiated the market development program, making the crucial decision to work with non-profit agricultural producer associations representing U.S. farmers whenever practicable. This decision resulted in a most effective mix of industry and government expertise and financial resources.

Cooperators are non-profit organizations representing producers and other sectors of agriculture in a joint program with FAS aimed at developing foreign markets. Each cooperator focuses on markets for products with which its members are concerned, with the overall result of expanding total U.S. farm trade. Today, there are approximately 80 of these groups working with FAS on a continuing basis in a variety of programs.

As the Foreign Market Development program expanded and its benefits became apparent, FAS introduced another program - the Targeted Export Assistance (TEA) program - in 1986 to augment the efforts of the cooperators. This program enlarged the group of participating agricultural groups (participants) and was intended to encourage the further development of the markets through generic promotion efforts and cooperative efforts with overseas processors. In time, this program became the Market Promotion Program (MPP) and is currently the Market Access Program (MAP).

Reflecting this enlarged constituency, cooperators/participants are enthusiastic promoters of U.S. farm products. Acting in the interest of their members - as well as for the general benefit of U.S. agriculture - they work with foreign governments; farm, manufacturing and importing organizations; and end users in various programs that directly benefit both U.S. farmers and foreign consumers of U.S. agricultural exports.

Currently, the cooperators/participants are working closely with an ever-increasing number of foreign firms and trade associations. The increasingly heavy involvement of these foreign organizations with the program reflects the mutually beneficial results of the varied activities being conducted, and the confidence that these groups have in the U.S. agricultural production, processing and marketing experts working with them under the joint program. Foreign participation in the program was modest in the early years, but by 1965, foreign government and agribusiness leaders were convinced the program was clearly benefiting them.

What began as an ad-hoc committee of cooperators in 1954 became more formalized in 1980 with the establishment of a permanent office to provide service to both members and the Foreign Agricultural Service. Agricultural trade and producer groups, recognizing the program as one of the most important in agriculture, joined together to form the council. Its mission was to present a unified approach and to serve as liaison with government agencies in voicing support for efforts and programs designed to promote foreign market demand for U.S. agricultural products.

USAEDC formalized the organization in 1983 when on October 31st, it incorporated in the District of Columbia under the District of Columbia Non-Profit Corporation Act. It has been serving the needs of its membership, which has grown from the initial handful in 1954 to approximately 80 today.

Portions of this are reprinted from "Team Effort Boosts U.S. Farm Exports" by Darwin Stole, Chairman, Agricultural Cooperator Council for Market Development

USAEDC is governed by a Board of Directors, composed of one (1) representative from each of the member organizations. Voting representation is based on the level of membership. Full members, limited to businesses and non-profit organizations which are engaged in activities parallel to the purposes of the Council and which have direct (active) project agreements with the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), may vote on the Board of Directors' deliberations. Associate members, representing other agricultural organizations which have a major interest in the export of agricultural products or may be eligible to enter into a project agreement with FAS, may not vote on matters before the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors overseas the council and annually elects its officers and Executive Committee.

A cadre of officers - Chairman, Vice Chairman, Secretary/Treasurer - and eight representatives are nominated and elected by the Board of Directors to serve on the Executive Committee. The Immediate Past Chairman is also a voting member of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee for a period of two (2) years. The Executive Committee is charged with exercising the powers of the Board of Directors when the Board of Directors is not in session, reporting to the Board of Directors at its succeeding meeting any action taken.

There are three standing committees of the Board of Directors - The Meetings Committee, the Rules Committee and the Electronic Communications Committee. As needed, other ad hoc committees are appointed by the Chairman with the approval of the Board. All members of USAEDC are eligible to serve on any of these committees, descriptions of which appear below.

The Board of Directors is governed by a set of by-laws that may be reviewed and amended at the direction of the USAEDC membership. The current by-laws underwent extensive revisions, adopted in November 2000, to reflect the changes within the organization. Subsequent minor changes have occurred since then, resulting in the document that appears here.

Regular Mail
U.S. Agricultural Export Development Council
8233 Old Courthouse Road
Suite 200
Vienna, VA 22182
703/556-9290 (P)
703/790-0845 (F)

E-Mail
E-mail the USAEDC with any of your questions or comments.

Member Application
Click here to download the USAEDC member application.