USDA Awards $4 Million to Pear Bureau Northwest to Diversify Export Markets

May 22, 2024 by USA Pears

MILWAUKIE, Ore. (May 22, 2024) – USDA has announced that Pear Bureau Northwest (PBNW) has been awarded $4.025 million under the new Regional Agriculture Promotion Program (RAPP), to build demand for USA Pears in high-potential markets around the globe.

“We are extremely pleased with the generous allocation that the Pear Bureau received from the USDA’s new RAPP program,” said Kevin Moffitt, PBNW President and CEO. “The export team did a fantastic job on their grant application, and the funds will bolster our export programs which are so important to the fresh pear growers in Washington and Oregon.”

Jeff Correa, PBNW Director of International Marketing, added, “PBNW will work in conjunction with the Export Promotion Committee to determine the best usage of the funds to maximize the benefit for the fresh pear industry in the Pacific Northwest.”

“We will look to conduct some important global activities to improve our social media outreach, develop more video and photo content that can be used by all stakeholders in all markets, and look to fund the promotional activities in the eligible export markets under the RAPP program for the next 2-5 seasons,” he added.

PBNW will also look to explore new market opportunities in the Philippines and the Caribbean region, and look to re-enter the markets of Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand with the RAPP funds. Finally, “The addition of RAPP funds to the export promotion budget will allow PBNW to maximize the Market Access Funds (MAP) towards the industry’s top two export markets, Mexico and Canada, which are ineligible under the first tranche of RAPP funds.”

“We’re also grateful to USDA Secretary Vilsack and the Foreign Agricultural Service leadership of FAS Administrator Daniel Whitley, Deputy Administrator Mark Slupek, Senior Director Curt Alt and Senior Director Chris Jacquette for their tireless work to move this grant from a concept to actuality,” Correa concluded.