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Sep 20, 2017
This week Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) along with Sens. Angus King (I-Maine), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) introduced the Cultivating Revitalization by Expanding American Agricultural Trade and Exports (CREAATE) Act, legislation that would double funding for the Foreign Market Development program and the Market Access Programs.
ASA works together with the U.S. Soybean Export Council to leverage MAP and FMD funds to establish and expand markets for American soy in all corners of the globe, and the CREAATE Act will go a long way to ensuring that good work can and will continue.
These two programs yield exponential benefits for farmers and the economy, generating almost $30 in net return for every dollar invested, and those dollars have gone to expanding overseas demand in the fields of animal agriculture, cooking oils and the emerging field of aquaculture.
While the farm economy struggles, ASA has advocated that growers need more opportunities for export and trade, not less, and the CREAATE Act is an important step towards continuing to establish and expand markets for American soy.
The Senate version of the CREAATE Act accompanies similar legislation introduced in May by Reps. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) and Chellie Pingree (D-Maine).
