Acting U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Ken Hyatt recently announced that St. Joseph, Michigan-based American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) will receive $260,112 from the International Trade Administration’s (ITA) Market Development Cooperator Program (MDCP). The award will help ASABE and its member companies to work to develop international standards for feed machinery. Utilizing these Federal resources, ASABE aims to increase exports through trade standardization.
Through the MDCP partnership, ITA will support this initiative to help ensure that produces are at the table as international standards are developed for this sector so that U.S. producers remain competitive in global markets,” Hyatt noted. “MDCP awards to groups like ASABE are part of President Obama’s government-wide strategy to strengthen America’s economy by increasing exports.”
ASABE will match the MDCP award with an investment of $744,035 of its own resources. Each MDCP award winner pledges at least two-thirds of the project costs and to sustain its project after the initial MDCP award period ends. The funded project will allow ASABE to provide education, outreach, training, preparation, coordination, and travel support for U.S. feed machinery industry representatives engaged in international standards development.
Each MDCP award also includes financial and technical assistance from ITA to support well-defined business plans aimed at strengthening an industry by increasing exports. MDCP partnerships between ITA and nonprofit industry groups create U.S. jobs through exports.
This year, five non-profit industry groups are receiving MDCP awards. In total, these projects are expected to generate or preserve more than $359 million in U.S. exports in the next three years in return for the one-time $1.3 million Federal investment.
Since the Market Development Cooperator Program’s inception in 1993, ITA has granted 146 awards to 112 organizations in 32 states. The program has helped to generate more than $11 billion in exports. In an average year, MDCP projects generate $567 million in U.S. exports.
