WASHINGTON, Aug. 3, 2007—The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service today announced funding allocations totaling more than $1.3 million to nine organizations to help expand export sales under the fiscal year 2007 Quality Samples Program (QSP).
"Access to overseas markets is critical to American agriculture," said FAS Administrator Mike Yost. "Partnership programs such as the Quality Samples Program are effective tools to promote U.S. agricultural exports."
Established in 1999, the QSP helps U.S. exporters provide samples of American commodities to foreign buyers who have not previously used them to encourage new purchases. The program supports projects that benefit whole industries rather than individual companies. When a project is finished, USDA reimburses the costs for procuring and exporting the samples.
Allocations were awarded competitively based on several criteria, including the likelihood that the projects will effectively demonstrate the benefits of the U.S. product, the applicant’s technical and trade experience, the potential for expanding commercial sales in the market, and the financial and in-kind contributions of applicants and importers.
For more information on the QSP, contact FAS’ Ryan Scott at (202) 690-4058 or Nancy Hirschhorn at (202) 720-6896, or visit the FAS web site at http://www.fas.usda.gov/mos/programs/QSP.asp
A list of recipients follows.
