2027 Foreign Market Development Cooperator Program
Competitive cost-sharing agreements fund nonprofit U.S. agricultural trade organizations to maintain and develop foreign markets for eligible U.S. agricultural commodities, excluding tobacco.
RESTRICTED TO: NONPROFITS
⚑ Applicants must be nonprofit U.S. agricultural trade organizations with no business interest in or remuneration from specific commodity sales. · All applicants must have active SAM registration by the deadline; no waivers or extensions. · USDA/FAS cost-shares market development activities; not open to universities directly.
Unit fits — one characterization, each unit's own rules
| IPPRA | 15 none | university cannot apply directly (ineligible) |
| Physical Sciences & Engineering (demo) | 15 none | university cannot apply directly (ineligible) |
| Tom Love Innovation Hub | 5 none | no commercialization signal |
Description
Under the Cooperator Program, USDA/FAS enters into agreements with nonprofit agricultural trade organizations (“Cooperators”) to share the costs of maintaining and developing foreign markets for United States agricultural commodities and products. Financial assistance under the Cooperator Program is made available on a competitive basis, and USDA/FAS endeavors to enter into agreements with eligible Cooperators to cover as broad an array of agricultural commodities as possible. All U.S. agricultural commodities, except tobacco, are eligible for consideration.
Eligibility
An applicant must be a nonprofit U.S. agricultural trade organization that promotes the exports of one or more U.S. agricultural commodities and does not have a business interest in or receive remuneration from specific sales of agricultural commodities.All applicants must have an active registration in the U.S. Government System for Award Management (www.sam.gov) before the application submission deadline of the announcement. Applicants with inactive, expired, pending, or excluded listings will be deemed ineligible. Exceptions, waivers, or extensions will not be considered. More information about SAM.gov registration can be found in Section 9, Other Information.
Apply
View on Grants.gov → CONTACT: Denyse Watson Grantor <curt.alt@usda.gov>
Proposal brief SEE AN EXAMPLE →
A one-page internal memo: fit assessment, submission requirements, document scaffold, and next steps dated back from the deadline — tailored to your project idea if you add one.
Proposal shell · USDA NIFA conventions SEE A USDA EXAMPLE →
Funder-faithful document skeletons — USDA NIFA's document set with section headings, page limits, reviewer guidance, and writing prompts; add a project idea to get [DRAFT] starter bullets. Download as .md for Word or Overleaf.