Members of the Wilbur family (from left to right) John Friend, Rick Wilbur, Richard Wilbur and Emily Friend, gather on their farmland in California’s Sacramento Valley. As the owners and operators of the Wilbur Packing Company, they have had great success exporting prunes and walnuts to international markets with assistance from the Foreign Agricultural Service’s (FAS) export programs.

Little did the Wilbur family know when they first settled on a farm in the Sacramento Valley in 1869 that they were laying the foundation for what would become one of California’s premier prune and walnut producers. Read more »

Last week, Congress reached an agreement to reduce the deficit and avoid a default that would have devastated our economy.  This compromise – which guarantees more than $2 trillion in deficit reduction – is an important first step to ensuring that we live within our means as a nation.

At the same time, the debt deal allows us to keep making key investments in things like education and research that lead to new jobs.  We’re also not cutting too abruptly while the economy is still fragile. Read more »

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack speaks at the National Export Initiative (NEI) “New Markets, New Jobs” tour in Milwaukee, Wis. on Aug. 3, 2011. The focus of the tour is to help small- and medium-sized businesses gain access to the resources they need to export their products internationally.

Earlier this year, the U.S. government kicked off the nationwide National Export Initiative “New Markets, New Jobs” tour designed to help connect small businesses with the resources they need to sell their products globally. Read more »

USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service has 98 offices worldwide that work every day to maintain access of U.S. agricultural products.

Every day, USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) field offices work to maintain access for U.S. products in export markets around the world. When trade is disrupted, these offices step up to the plate to address the issue and work with their counterparts in Washington, D.C., the exporters, and the foreign government to ensure trade can resume. Read more »

In recognition of World Trade Week 2011, 27 companies and organizations were honored for excellence in exporting at the President’s “E” Awards Ceremony.  This year marked the 50^th anniversary of the Presidential “E” Award, which was created by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to recognize persons, firms, or organizations that contribute greatly to increasing U.S. exports. Each award recipient demonstrated four or more years of successive export growth, usually accompanied by a rising percentage of export sales within total sales.

Four agriculture companies were among the awardees this year and were recognized in a ceremony in Washington, D.C. The companies represent a cross section of U.S. agribusinesses, hailing from Hawaii, Arizona and Florida. Read more »

Last week, I was honored to travel home to Delaware to address the importance of the President’s National Export Initiative (NEI). As a proud former agriculture secretary for this great state, I know well that for thousands of Delawareans, agriculture is not only a livelihood, but also a way of life.

Delaware boasts nearly 2,500 farms covering almost a half-million acres of land. In 2009 those farms generated more than $1 billion in cash receipts and exported $240 million in agricultural goods. Approximately half of the export value came from poultry, making Delaware the United States’ 12^th-largest poultry exporter. Read more »