U.S. Wheat Associates’ (USW) annual success stories demonstrate the progress and results generated by market development programs supporting U.S. wheat sales around the world.
Submitted to the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) in August 2026, 16 success stories highlighted USW activities during the 2025-26 marketing year. The stories detailed purchases, seminars, trade missions, technical training and shipments, as well as longer-term outcomes such as increased sales and the introduction of U.S. wheat to new markets.
One highlighted success story involved a USW Crop Quality Seminar in Nigeria, the largest buyer of U.S. wheat in Sub-Saharan Africa. The seminar was designed to support U.S. wheat market share in Nigeria while emphasizing the quality and value of U.S. wheat.
All 50 participants received funding to attend through the Regional Agricultural Promotion Program (RAPP). The seminar provided information about the 2025 wheat harvest and the quality characteristics of different wheat varieties. Following the seminar, Flour Mills of Nigeria purchased a shipment of U.S. hard red winter and soft red winter wheat in November 2025, based on information about quality, price and supply.
Another success story highlighted a breakthrough in Indonesia through USW’s cooperation with the country’s flour milling sector. Indonesia is among the world’s top three wheat-importing countries, creating a significant but highly competitive market in which millers are sensitive to price.
USW and Indonesia’s flour milling association, APTINDO, signed a memorandum of understanding July 7, 2025. Funding through the Market Access Program (MAP) and RAPP supported trade teams, short courses, seminars and workshops that helped strengthen the partnership. The effort supported a commitment to purchase 800,000 metric tons, or 29.4 million bushels, of U.S. wheat.
The other 14 success stories covered market development efforts in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. They included baking seminars that contributed to Senegal’s first U.S. wheat exports in a decade, a purchase commitment supporting consistent U.S. wheat sales to Bangladesh and technical training that helped generate commercial wheat sales to Mauritania.
Other stories highlighted a USW trade mission that led to an immediate sale by East Africa’s largest milling company, long-term crop quality seminars that resulted in regular U.S. durum sales to Hispaniola and buyer engagement that expanded U.S. wheat sales in Ecuador.
The stories also documented a Nigerian trade team visit that generated sales, a trade mission promoting U.S. wheat as a premium feed choice for Ecuadorian poultry feed, trade seminars that resulted in hard red winter wheat sales in the Caribbean and USW seminars that supported bakery product innovation and increased U.S. wheat demand in Mexico.
Additional stories focused on a Vietnam marketing conference that drove U.S. wheat sales and supported long-term growth opportunities, technical assistance protecting U.S. wheat exports to the Philippines, support for Colombian pasta and baking industries and technical training that helped a Thai mill secure new business and generate U.S. wheat sales.
The annual success stories provide a way to demonstrate the return on investment from market development programs and help justify continued investment by taxpayers and industry partners. They also provide farmers with insight into how their products and checkoff dollars support efforts to expand demand for U.S. wheat internationally.
USW’s market development work relies on a public-private partnership involving state wheat commission members and USDA-FAS export market development programs. Checkoff contributions allow USW to apply for matching funds through programs including MAP, the Foreign Market Development program and the Agricultural Trade Promotion and Facilitation Program.
USW combines those resources to promote the six classes of U.S. wheat as a reliable source of high-quality wheat for milling and baking operations worldwide. Additional success stories are expected to be posted throughout the year.
Source: U.S. Wheat Associates, "From Funding to Impact: USW Success Stories Demonstrate Why Export Market Development Matters"