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FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky agricultural companies that are interested in expanding the reach of their Kentucky Proud products overseas can learn more about the fine points of exporting in two information sessions scheduled for March.
The Kentucky Department of Agriculture is co-sponsoring the sessions as part of Commissioner Richie Farmer’s campaign to improve rural incomes in Kentucky. The KDA and the Southern United States Trade Association (SUSTA) will conduct the sessions on March 8 in Campbellsville and March 9 in Bowling Green. Participants can learn how a company can double its marketing budget with federal matching grants, explore foreign markets at a low cost, meet foreign buyers, and access valuable market research free of charge through membership in SUSTA.
“Kentucky companies have enjoyed tremendous success working with SUSTA,” Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer said. “SUSTA helps participating companies take some of the risk, expense and guesswork out of exporting. It gives businesses a better chance to succeed, and when our agricultural businesses succeed, our small towns prosper.”
Kentucky companies that participated in SUSTA’s Market Access Program (MAP) exported $62 million worth of agricultural products between Oct. 1, 2002, and Sept. 30, 2003, the most of any state in the SUSTA region, which includes 15 states and Puerto Rico.
SUSTA is a non-profit organization that helps small companies in the southern U.S. promote products overseas. To lessen the risks of international marketing, SUSTA offers a range of services to producers, manufacturers and distributors of U.S. food and agriculture-based products.
In order to participate in SUSTA programs, companies must have a product that is at least 50 percent U.S. agricultural origin; label the product as “Product of the USA” or “Made in the USA,” and be “small” according to Small Business Administration guidelines.
To attend an Exporter’s Information Session in Kentucky, contact Kelly Ludwig of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture by phone at (502) 564-4983 or by e-mail at Kelly.Ludwig@ky.gov.
For more information on this event or other SUSTA programs, visit www.susta.org.
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