The Foreign Agricultural Service 
The Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) is the 
“State Department” of the agriculture world. 
FAS maintains offices around the globe and 
has primary responsibility for these USDA 
overseas programs: market development, 
international trade agreement negotiations, 
and the collection of statistics and market 
information. FAS also administers USDA's 
export credit guarantee and food aid pro- 
grams and helps increase income and food 
availability in developing nations by mobiliz- 
ing expertise for agriculturally led economic 
growth. FAS enhances U.S. agriculture’s 
competitiveness by providing linkages to 
world resources and international organiza- 
tions and building a spirit of cooperation. 
FAS represents the world’s largest agricul- 
tural export country through its network of 
agricultural counselors, attachés, and trade 
officers stationed overseas and its analysts, 
marketing specialists, and negotiators 
located in Washington, DC. 
The FAS attaché service has 105 professional 
agricultural economists and marketing spe- 
cialists stationed in 64 posts covering 129 
countries. Reports coming into Washington 
from these in-country experts are the basis 
for FAS world commodity market and trade 
information and publications. Attaché 
reports review changes in policies affecting 
U.S. agricultural exports, assess U.S. export 
marketing opportunities, monitor important 
weather-related developments, and respond 
to the daily informational needs of those who 
plan, initiate, monitor, and evaluate U.S. food 
and agricultural programs and policies. 
In addition to data-gathering by attachés, 
FAS also maintains a worldwide agricultural 
information and reporting system through 
U.S. agricultural industries, remote sensing 
systems, and other sources. FAS uses this 
information to prepare production forecasts 
and assess export marketing opportunities, 
as well as to track changes in policies affect- 
ing U.S. agricultural exports and imports. 
Analyzing production and trade, personnel 
in the Washington office prepare production 
forecasts and assess export marketing oppor- 
tunities, as well as track changes in policies 
affecting U.S. agricultural exports and 
imports. These analyses are used by policy- 
makers, program administrators, producers, 
and exporters. 
FAS programs help U.S. exporters develop 
and maintain markets overseas for hundreds 
of food and agricultural products ranging 
from bulk commodities to brand-name gro- 
cery items. Promotional activities are carried 
out chiefly in cooperation with nonprofit 
agricultural trade associations and coopera- 
tives that agree to plan, manage, and con- 
tribute staff resources and funds to support 
these activities. The largest FAS promotional 
programs are the Foreign Market 
Development Cooperator Program and the 
Market Access Program. 
Additionally, FAS sponsors U.S. participation 
in several major trade shows and a number 
of single-industry exhibitions overseas each 
year. Trade offices in 15 key market countries 
function as service centers for U.S. exporters 
and foreign buyers seeking market informa- 
tion. U.S. agricultural trade offices and 
attaché offices provide foreign buyers with 
up-to-the-minute communication with 
potential suppliers in the United States. FAS 
Trade Office personnel also assist U.S. 
exporters in launching products in overseas 
markets characterized by different food pref- 
erences, social customs, and marketing 
systems. 
FAS coordinates and directs USDA's 
responsibilities in international trade agree- 
ment programs and negotiations, working 
closely with the office of the U.S. Trade 
Representative (USTR) in this effort. 
International trade policy experts within FAS 
help identify—and work to reduce—foreign 
trade barriers and practices that discourage 
the export of U.S. agricultural products. As 
the United States’ information clearinghouse 
for World Trade Organization (WTO) sanitary 
and phytosanitary issues and technical 
BE 0A SAAT Sas OS a A 
APHIS works closely 
with AMS on 
commodity and 
trade issues. And 
APHIS and AMS 
scientists work 
together and share 
information on a 
number of national 
agricultural issues. 
Federal Agency Cooperation in World Trade Activities 3 
