Food Export USA Opens Applications for 2027
Food Export USA opened its 2027 Program Year on August 1, and its Branded Program reimburses 50% of eligible international marketing costs for approved companies. Qualifying spend covers foreign market-compliant packaging and labels, overseas advertising, in-store demonstrations, trade show booths, and freight for product samples. It runs alongside the organization’s education programs, market research, buyer meetings, and trade missions, all under the theme “Homegrown and Succeeding Abroad.”
“Every great export story starts at home,” said Brendan Wilson, CEO of Food Export USA. Chief Growth Officer Trish James described exporting as a sequence rather than a single decision.
Who qualifies
A company has to be headquartered in one of the 23 Midwest or Northeast member states, meet the Small Business Administration’s definition of a small or medium business, and have recorded at least $100,000 in gross sales the previous year, according to the Branded Program exporter manual. Agricultural producer cooperatives are exempt from the size limit. Founders headquartered elsewhere go through a different regional trade group, SUSTA in the South or WUSATA in the West.
The ingredient math
Products have to carry at least 50% U.S. agricultural content by weight, and the calculation excludes water, packaging, and minerals including salt. Ingredients grown in another country do not count as U.S. content even when a U.S. company sold them. A product can be blended in Brooklyn and still miss the threshold if the protein was grown abroad. Packaging also needs a visible U.S. origin statement, and a brand name containing “USA” or “American” does not satisfy that requirement.
Eligible categories cover more than packaged groceries. Food ingredients, pet food, foodservice products, and compliant hemp all qualify, though CBD marketing is excluded.
What it costs and when to file
Approved companies can claim between $2,500 and $300,000 in a program year, or up to $350,000 for producer-owned cooperatives. First-time applicants start with a maximum allocation of $25,000, or $50,000 with prior export experience. The program manual sets a nonrefundable application fee plus a 6% administrative fee on approved funding. Participation fees for Food Export’s own buyer missions, trade missions, and market research services are not reimbursable through the Branded Program, so those are two budgets, not one.
Food Export recommends filing the Branded application by October 31, 2026 for the best chance at approval, and applications in by December 31, 2026 carry a full year of eligibility. Pre-qualification comes before the application fee, so eligibility can be checked in the Food Export portal before paying anything. Sooner than that, a webinar on August 5 walks through USDA’s Global Agricultural Trade System, and export readiness seminars continue through August on the event calendar.
The programs run on Market Access Program money from USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service, which is accepting Fiscal Year 2027 trade promotion applications through August 14, 2026 and expects to announce award selections in the fall. Food Export is asking suppliers to file in that same stretch of calendar, which is a good argument for getting the paperwork in during October rather than December.
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