CA Walnut Commission Celebrates USDA’s Announcement of Regional Agricultural Promotion Program (RAPP) Awards
Summary
The California Walnut Commission, representing more than 4,600 California walnut growers, mostly multi-generational family farms, and nearly 70 handlers, is pleased to announce it has been awarded $7 million in funding as part of the Regional Agricultural Promotion Program (RAPP) to expand distribution and sales of California Walnuts in international markets.The CWC thanks Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Foreign Agricultural Service for enacting the Regional Agricultural Promotion Program and recent award announcements to help support the expansion of California Walnuts and other US commodity exports into emerging markets. The CWC plans to attain success by leveraging the combined funding to conduct similar programs and activities as it was able to achieve in the United Kingdom (UK) utilizing the one-time Agricultural Trade Promotion Program (ATP) funds. In the UK, the industry was able to build programs that drove additional displays and distribution, resulting in increased retail sales and growing California walnut shipments +65% since 2018. The UK is now a top ten export market.Funding from the Market Access Program has been essential to our success over the years, and the introduction of RAPP funds will provide additional opportunities to drive new distribution and grow sales for California walnuts in even more new and exciting ways said Robert Verloop, CEO for California Walnut Commission. The CWC, established in 1987, promotes usage of walnuts through domestic and export market development activities as well as supports health research with consuming walnuts.To explore recipes and learn more about California walnut growers, industry information and health research, visit walnuts.org.