The Foreign Market Development (FMD) Program and Texas Dairy
The Foreign Market Development program, often called FMD, is another USDA tool for building overseas demand. Here is how it generally works and how Texas dairy interests can learn the current details.
What is FMD in general terms?
FMD is a USDA cost-share program aimed at developing long-term overseas markets for U.S. agricultural products. It is administered through the Foreign Agricultural Service, and participants are usually trade organizations that represent industries.
Eligibility, funding levels and rules can change. Check the FAS program pages for current information, and treat anything else, including this article, as a starting point only.
The long-term part is key. Market development is slow, like building a herd. It can take years of relationships and technical help before an importer starts buying regularly.
How is it different from MAP?
FMD is often described as focused on long-term market development work such as technical assistance, trade servicing and market research, while MAP leans toward promotion and brand building. The programs complement each other, but the rules and eligible participants differ.
Read the official descriptions of both and ask your trade group which it uses. A short call to the U.S. Dairy Export Council can clear up questions.
A hypothetical: a trade group funds a seminar for foreign bakers on using U.S. cheese in recipes. Months later, a buyer places an order. The seminar did not make the sale, but it removed a barrier that would have stopped it.
Think of MAP as the megaphone and FMD as the handshake. One tells foreign buyers a product exists; the other helps them learn how to use it and trust the supplier. Both matter, and many industry groups use both in different ways.
What activities does it support?
Examples include training foreign buyers on how to use U.S. products, supporting technical seminars, studying import regulations and helping importers solve practical problems. These activities may look unglamorous but can open doors.
Participants usually cover part of the cost themselves, so planning is needed.
These activities also feed back to producers. When foreign customers explain what they need, groups can pass that knowledge to plants and farms, helping them make products the market wants.
Technical assistance can be surprisingly practical. Showing a foreign plant how to handle a powder, store a cheese or adapt a recipe may do more for repeat business than a flashy campaign.
- Technical training for buyers
- Market research and trade servicing
- Seminars and demonstrations
- Help understanding import rules
What does it mean for Texas dairy?
For a Texas processor, the most realistic benefit is through industry groups that use FMD funds to build the kind of long-term relationships that support export sales. A plant may take part in activities, meet foreign buyers or benefit from improved market access knowledge.
Farms feel it only indirectly, through stronger demand and steadier prices over time.
Ask whether your trade group publishes results from FMD-supported work. Transparency helps you judge whether the money is working.
Ask a basic question of your trade group: what has this program funded for dairy in the last few years, and what changed as a result? A good group will have an answer. A vague answer is a reason to ask more.
How do you follow up?
Ask your trade association which programs it uses and how members take part. The Texas Department of Agriculture can also point you to state export resources, and the International Trade Administration offers guides for exporters.
Back that with a plan. The farm money guide covers budgeting, the dairy herd guide covers quality, and USDA publishes official program information.
Remember that each program has paperwork and reporting. Groups that use them have staff for that, and individual businesses rarely do.
For federal farm program context that is separate from export work, the Farm Service Agency explains producer-level programs, and NMPF follows dairy policy for cooperatives.
What should you keep in mind?
No program guarantees sales. Treat support as a boost, not a plan. Check funding status, deadlines and eligibility each year.
For a lighter look, farm.FM's economics section and the news page offer friendly reading, and one farm.FM story on foreign market development adds a human angle.
Ask also about timelines. Market development programs often work on multi-year horizons, and patient groups tend to benefit most.
Whatever the program, keep your own records of any activity you join, and ask for a summary afterward. That habit helps you judge value.
Sources and further reading
- USDA Foreign Agricultural Service: export markets and trade data
- USDA: U.S. Department of Agriculture
- U.S. Dairy Export Council: dairy exports
- Texas Department of Agriculture: state agriculture agency
- International Trade Administration: export help for U.S. businesses
- Farmers.gov: USDA one-stop site for producers
Ask locally: Ask your dairy trade association which USDA programs it uses and how Texas members can take part.