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Back to School

9-13-2023

Big Picture Report: September 2023
Bernadette Wiltz-Lang, SUSTA

Get Familiar with SUSTA’s Educational Resources

Time really does fly by. As this newsletter goes out, I am at the SUSTA Board of Directors’ meeting. Our board is made up of all the commissioners and secretaries of the state departments of agriculture across the Southern U.S.We met with the USDA Foreign Agriculture Service’s Global Programs division. The bottom line is that in our 50 years as a trade association, SUSTA has always been a resource to grow your exports.

We also had a chance to review what has been a busy year so far and were pleased to gather the great feedback from our participating companies in the exhibitions, missions, and educational events.

  • … 5 star!
  • … significantly exceeded our expectations.
  • … market research and route to market presentation was extremely informative.

As I’ve said before, September is always associated with “back to school” – and that includes export education offered by SUSTA. Registration is open for our next Export Readiness Training (ERT), which starts in just a couple of weeks. These sessions are extremely popular and cover how to assess your capacity for exporting, identify key markets, and learn practical actions that can support your export marketing efforts. In short, participants come out of this training with skills, tools, and confidence in how to get their products on the global market.

Export Readiness Training is for diligent students! There are “homework” assignments from each session, and completing those assignments results in companies having a viable action plan for success. One participant in the last ERT course said, “I'm building together my export plans for a few target countries based on the training & course notes, which makes an ideal template.”

Register for Training on our website by September 20th, and keep in mind there are only a few spots left. Classes start on October 4. If you are curious about whether this training is for you, again, check out the ERT assessment link. If you answer yes to most of these questions, you’re a good candidate to benefit from this export readiness exercise.

Last, but certainly not least, be sure to reconfirm your MySUSTA account details for 2024 and be ready to start off the next 50 years for SUSTA.The first quarter of next year starts out strong with activities in the Middle East, Mexico, Japan, and several in Europe for horticulture, produce, and beer, wine and spirits.