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The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) is proud to announce that it was one of 55 nonprofit organizations and cooperatives awarded an America First Trade Promotion Program grant through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). The $175,000 award will support AFIA’s buyers and sellers conference for pet food and pet food ingredients, featuring buyers from across East and Southeast Asia, to be held in Vietnam this October.
“We appreciate FAS’s trust in, and enthusiasm for, our industry. With this new funding, the AFIA can enhance promotion of American animal food products and ingredients abroad – a key component of growing industry market access and reducing the agriculture trade deficit,” said AFIA President and CEO Constance Cullman “East and Southeast Asia is growing in demand for U.S. pet food and pet food ingredients and the AFIA will make the most of this funding and regional growth to connect East and Southeast Asia Buyers with U.S. providers of high-quality pet food and pet food ingredients.”
In January, the FAS Market Access Program also awarded AFIA $205,392 for the year for market development activities that support the creation of new foreign markets. Together, the AFIA’s federal funding total of over $380,000 for 2026 will aid projects designed to identify new countries for American animal food and support members seeking to grow their customer base globally.
“AFIA members will have the opportunity this fall to travel to Vietnam to sell directly to interested buyers from across the region and put American pet food and pet food products first in the minds of manufacturers and consumers,” Cullman said.
The funding comes on the heels of a very successful buyers and sellers mission the AFIA hosted at its Purchasing and Ingredient Suppliers Conference in March, where Vietnamese buyers had over 45 business-to-business meetings with suppliers from across the animal food industry.
Learn more about AFIA’s global affairs program at afia.org/trade and find more information on upcoming trade missions and how to apply at afia.org/events.
