The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is represented in 80 countries by the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), whose main responsibility is to develop, maintain and expand U.S. agricultural exports in the global marketplace.
In Brazil, the USDA is represented by three offices: the Office of Agricultural Affairs (OAA) and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), both located at the American Embassy in Brasília, and the U.S. Agricultural Trade Office (ATO), situated in São Paulo. The former’s location aims at facilitating the interaction with the Brazilian Government on agricultural policy and trade issues, while the latter is positioned in the strategic traditional Brazilian business center to capitalize on private sector trade contact. The reach of the ATO, nevertheless, is nationwide. Concurrently, the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is also represented in Brazil, with a representative placed at the American Embassy, to address sanitary and phyto-sanitary (SPS) matters.
Some FAS offices have the status of Agricultural Trade Office (ATO) due to their strategic importance in developing foreign markets. There are currently 18 ATOs worldwide focused on helping small and medium U.S. food producers enter those emerging markets with strong consumption potential. For this reason, ATOs have become the primary source of information for local importers of U.S. products as well as for U.S. companies interested in exporting to those countries.
the ATO intermediates commercial contacts between Brazilian and U.S. firms, offering its local infrastructure and providing free-of-charge consultation services for U.S. exporters and Brazilian importers interested in launching U.S. products in the local market.
Among the services that can be obtained free of charge at the ATO office, there are reports with relevant information to the Brazilian market, informative leaflets regarding initiatives supported by the Office and support to local importers seeking for trade shows information. Besides that, exporting credit guarantee programs from Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) have been created in order to facilitate the import of North American agricultural and food products. These programs can help North American food and commodity exportation flow to several countries as, once approved, the US takes on the financial risk of the operation.
Under the sponsorship of Cochran Fellowship Program the USDA also develops training programs, such as technical courses and technological exchanges between the United States and developing countries, which may occur either in the USA or in the interested country.
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