Press Releases

September 9, 2004

SUSTA IS AWARDED FUNDING TO CONDUCT EXPORT TRAINING

"Of the companies benefiting from the export training, 80% belong to an underserved community."

New Orleans, LA – The Southern United States Trade Association (SUSTA), a non-profit trade organization promoting southern U.S. food and agriculture products in foreign countries, has been awarded funding from the USDA's Foreign Agriculture Service Emerging Markets Program. As a result, SUSTA will administer a two-year export training program in Texas.

The program is SUSTA's 19th Export Readiness Training (ERT) session. For past programs, SUSTA has collaborated with regional Small Business Development Centers, International Trade Centers, colleges and universities. As a result of these combined efforts, 130 small southern businesses have successfully completed the program. Of these graduates, 80 percent of the companies belong to the under-served community of minority-owned, woman-owned and rural companies.

The Export Readiness Training program boasts a 72 percent success rate. Successful companies are those that complete the program and, within one year, make an export sale or take steps to generate sales by participating in activities or promotions aimed at exporting.

The two-year session that will take place in Texas is the third which will utilize the expertise of the International Trade Center at the University of Texas at San Antonio. The South-West Texas Border International Trade Center is associated with the Institute for Economic Development and the Small Business Development Center. The Trade Center's prior efforts conducting Export Readiness Training have produced sound results.

Other Export Readiness Training is currently underway in South Carolina, with the help of the South Carolina World Trade Center (SCWTC), in southern Florida under the direction of the Miami-Dade Community College and throughout the south provided by the University of Alabama's International Trade Center (AITC).

SUSTA is funded by the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service and works closely with the State Departments of Agriculture in the southern U.S. to give a giant boost to the promotional efforts of the U.S. agriculture industry.

For more information on this and other SUSTA programs, visit www.susta.org. Texas companies interested in learning how to export should contact Terry Ovalle of the Texas Department of Agriculture at (512) 463-7469.

Back to Press Releases