The European Commission (EC) is proposing tripling its spending on agricultural export promotion programs.  The European Parliament will soon consider increasing European Union (EU) agricultural export promotion programs from $82.5 million in 2013 to $270.5 million in 2020. 

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The EC is planning a slogan, “Enjoy, it’s from Europe,” as part of the expanded promotion program.  The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) said, “With 96%  of the world’s population living outside our borders, we need to focus our energy and resources on putting U.S. meat and other agricultural products on the world’s tables.  If we don’t, our competitors in the EU and around the world will gladly take that business off our hands.”  The two major U.S. export promotion programs, the Foreign Market Development Program (FMD) and the Market Access Program (MAP), need to be reauthorized in the farm bill.  If Congress fails to pass a farm bill, these vital programs will no longer exist.