Marketing, Promotion & Grants

Welcome to the Bureau of Marketing, Promotion & Grants

Expanding Illinois' Economy by Increasing Usage of Illinois Food and Agricultural Products

Since 1968, the Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) has actively and aggressively engaged in international market development and product promotion for the state’s food and agribusiness sectors.  Headquartered in Springfield, Illinois, the Department also maintains offices in Hong Kong and Mexico City to promote Illinois products worldwide.

Many of the Department’s services compliment other public and private market development efforts.  The Department maintains close contacts with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service to help Illinois firms gain access to federal marketing programs.  IDOA is a member of the Food Export Association of the Midwest USA, which helps coordinate export education and market entry opportunities for processed food and agricultural products from 12 Midwestern states.  The Department also works in partnership with many commodity organizations’ market development programs.

The United States Livestock Genetics Export, Inc., (USLGE), is a nationwide not-for-profit trade association representing the international marketing interest of the US dairy, beef, sheep, goat, swine and horse breeding industries. It is the branch of the USDA-FAS that distributes federal monies from the Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development (FMD) programs to member State Departments of Agriculture like IDOA.

IDOA’s Bureau of Marketing, Promotion and Grants activities that support Illinois exports are also listed below and include a compiled value for actual and projected sales. Values are obtained by collecting on-site and follow-up evaluations for activities we host, organize, or sponsor. Those activities are both domestic and international and include buyers’ missions, trade missions, domestic and international trade shows, industry tours, and other marketing activities. 

Fiscal Year 2017:

• Participated in 16 domestic and international trade shows
• Hosted 2 foreign buyers’ mission and industry tours 
• Facilitated 8,522 buyer-seller introductions
• Participated in 47 cooperative sponsored activities resulting in 1,047 Illinois companies participating in those events
• For small-and medium-sized Illinois agribusiness and food processing companies, the activities above resulted in $57,221,078 in actual sales and an estimated $229,882,310 in projected sales, with a ROI of 85:1 to the budget and 913:1 to actual expenses of shows for FY17.
• Staff organized and/or participated in 27 outreach and education events, reaching 43,771 consumers. 
• Administered and managed activities for 149 Specialty Crop Block Grants for 4 open funding cycles (FFY14, FFY15, FFY16, FFY17); each federal fiscal year totaled approximately $600,000. For all federal grant programs, funds totaling approximately $850,000 were processed in FY17. 
  

Fiscal Year 2016:

• Participated in 13 domestic and international trade shows
• Hosted 4 foreign buyers’ mission and industry tours
• Facilitated 12,112 buyer-seller introductions.
• Participated in 59 cooperative sponsored activities resulting in 415 Illinois companies participating in those events.
• For small- and medium-sized Illinois agribusiness and food processing companies, the activities above resulted in $50,028,631 in actual sales and approximately $466,981,792 in projected sales, with a ROI of 155:1 to the budget and 1798:1 to actual expenses of shows for FY16. 
  

Fiscal Year 2015:

• Participated in 12 domestic and international trade shows
• Hosted 3 foreign buyers’ mission and industry tours
• Facilitated 6,817 buyer-seller introductions
• Participated in 41 cooperative sponsored activities resulting in 445 Illinois companies participating in those events
• For small- and medium-sized Illinois agribusiness and food processing companies, the activities above resulted in $256,038,032 in actual sales and approximately $461,043,509 in projected sales, with a ROI of 1719:1 to actual expenses of shows and ROI of 215:1 to the budget for FY15