Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson will participate in the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) first-ever regional agribusiness trade mission to the Netherlands April 17-20.
“I am honored to participate in the upcoming Netherlands Trade Mission,” said Gipson. “The Netherlands is the gateway port to all of continental Europe. This is a great opportunity for Mississippi to exhibit our diverse agricultural commodities and markets on an international level. I plan to push all our major ag products, in particular, grain, poultry, timber and sweet potatoes. A major part of our agency’s job is to develop domestic and international markets for Mississippi producers. I’m proud to represent the State of Mississippi, the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce, the Southern U.S. Trade Association and our producers on this trade mission and we are strategically planning more trips in the future with this same objective in mind.”
Andy Gipson
Gipson serves as President of the Southern U.S. Trade Association (SUSTA), a fourteen-member federally funded state organization which will cover his travel expenses. SUSTA works cooperatively with the United States Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service to facilitate trade between local U.S. food companies and international buyers.
The delegation includes more than 50 businesses, trade associations and state government leaders from around the country seeking to grow U.S. agricultural exports to the Netherlands, Scandinavia and beyond. Several Mississippi representatives will join the delegation including Andy Gipson, President of the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation Mike McCormick and General Counsel for Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation Kent Bloodworth.
“As the largest general farm organization in Mississippi, I feel Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation and its farmer members have a lot to offer the Netherlands and Europe. We are honored at Gipson’s invitation to join him on this trip and look forward to a future partnership between the Mississippi Department of Agriculture, Farm Bureau and the agriculture community in the Netherlands,” said President McCormick.
The Netherlands is the gateway for U.S. products into the European Union (EU) as it is the largest importing country within the EU. While on the trade mission, participants will conduct business-to-business meetings with potential buyers, receive market briefings from USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service and industry trade experts, and participate in site visits.
