agricultural marketing service

As an auditor for USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), I am one of a small group of highly-qualified individuals who audit companies that utilize our programs to back up their marketing claims and add value to their products by verifying their standards or requirements. One of these programs is the USDA Process Verified Program (PVP).

Each week USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) publishes a series of retail reports through our Market News service that reflect advertised prices for products being featured to consumers at grocery stores across the country. We recently transitioned our retail reports covering red meats, poultry, and eggs to the My Market News platform, which allows users to filter and customize the information to meet their individual needs. This is part of an ongoing effort to modernize the AMS market reporting data collection and delivery system to improve the customer experience.

When purchasing food, many consumers look for information on where the food came from and how it was produced. No antibiotics, cage-free, and grass-fed are a few marketing claims consumers find on protein-based food packaging. To provide assurance to customers of the validity of these and other claims, producers often enlist the services of USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS).

Organic is a growing sector, with domestic sales of organic products topping $69.7 billion in 2023. However, consumer research shows that consumers do not always understand what “organic” means and how USDA protects the organic label.

Several weeks ago, USDA announced $26 million available through this year’s Local Agriculture Market Program (LAMP). The program funds projects that increase the availability of locally grown food for consumers and develop new markets for local and regional food agricultural businesses, farmers markets, and food hubs, keeping food dollars in the local community. A 2021 LAMP recipient, Foodshed Inc., has used its grant funding to make great strides in supporting local farmers while helping meet the nutrition needs of the community.

Almost two years ago, reflecting on lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic and in light of ongoing supply chain challenges from global conflict and a changing climate, Secretary Vilsack announced a new framework at USDA for shoring up the food supply chain and transforming the food system to be fairer, more competitive, more resilient. We’ve since called this our Food System Transformation – and as we celebrate National Agriculture Day and this year’s theme “Agriculture: Growing a Climate for Tomorrow,” I’m thrilled to share some updates on our work.

USDA recognizes how critical organic agriculture is to our nation’s economy. We also recognize the challenges producers can face transitioning to organic.

With last month’s announcement of the 2023 Specialty Crop Block Grant awards, the program has reached a milestone of over $1 billion invested into projects to support the U.S. specialty crop industry. Since the program’s inception in 2006, 1890s land-grant universities throughout the country have been using USDA’s Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP) funding to address key specialty crop challenges in their states. SCBGP supports these historically Black colleges and universities, and others nationwide, by funding a variety of grant projects that enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops.

One week on the job can take organic inspectors from a field crop farm to a dairy pasture or food production facility. Inspectors audit organic farms, ranches, and businesses to verify that they follow the USDA organic standards. Travel and flexibility are inherent to inspection work, and many inspectors enjoy the opportunity to meet new people and learn about different types of agriculture and food production systems. This schedule, however, can also make it challenging for organic inspectors to connect with colleagues, attend training, or access professional resources.

In celebration of National Farmers Market Week (August 6-12), and to further the awareness of farmers markets’ contributions to healthy food access, AMS is highlighting a cooperative agreement partnership with the Farmers Market Coalition (FMC) that set out to develop and pilot on-campus farmers markets at three 1890 land grant universities and Vegetable Education (VegU) programs at three farmers markets. Team members from USDA’s Farmers Market Team, AMS’ Local & Regional Foods Division, and FMC are currently working with schools in Louisiana, Tennessee, and Virginia for the pilot projects and farmers markets in Texas, Illinois, and Kentucky to establish VegU programs.