Aug 4, 2025NPC: Specialty crop grant reauthorization to aid Mexican market access
USDA has reported to the National Potato Council that the department’s Technical Assistance for Specialty Crops (TASC) program grant has been reauthorized for $650,000, ensuring its continued support for the industry’s efforts to retain fresh market access in Mexico through 2027.
“We thank Secretary Rollins and the entire team at USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service for restoring this TASC funding,” Brett Jensen, NPC vice president of trade affairs and a potato grower from Idaho, said in a statement.
“NPC’s ability to utilize TASC was critical during our successful efforts to fully open the Mexican market for U.S. fresh potatoes. Looking ahead, this partnership with FAS is essential to maintaining and enhancing this valuable Mexican market.”
NPC has received successive TASC grants to counter the Mexican industry’s legal strategy to prevent U.S. exports to that country, according to the NPC statement. In 2021, the U.S. won a unanimous decision in the Mexican Supreme Court that began the final process of opening that market to fresh exports.
For the 12-month period from October 2023 to September 2024, U.S. fresh potato sales to Mexico totaled $134.9 million, according to the latest USDA data.
