Marrakech – The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has selected Morocco as one of seven countries for a new five-year award under its Food for Progress program. The grant, worth up to MAD 331 million ($33.1 million), aims to strengthen the kingdom’s food safety and livestock sectors.
The project draws on the sale of 33,000 metric tons of US-grown soybean meal and wheat. Counterpart International will implement it, and about 5,000 people are expected to benefit. Both governments framed the award within a relationship now marking 250 years of friendship, pointing toward deeper economic ties ahead.
Morocco’s selection came inside a far larger package. On October 8, the USDA announced MAD 8.25 billion ($825 million) in what it labeled “America First” international food assistance. The money is administered across three programs: Food for Peace, McGovern-Dole Food for Education, and Food for Progress.
Michelle Bekkering, Deputy Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs, cast the spending as a benefit to recipients and American farmers alike. US sourcing and shipping turn humanitarian aid into opportunities at home, she argued, moving recipient nations “from dependence to self-reliance.”
Morocco falls under the Food for Progress strand. That program will buy 311,650 metric tons of US-grown commodities to modernize value chains and reinforce science- and rules-based trade. It supports commercial partners in Bangladesh, Bolivia, Ecuador, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and the Philippines.
The two other strands reach elsewhere. Food for Peace will purchase about 129,000 metric tons for emergency assistance in Ethiopia, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Haiti, backed by a further MAD 3.57 billion ($357 million) across eight projects.
McGovern-Dole will buy 62,150 metric tons for school meals in seven countries, reaching 6,415 schools and 1.2 million children.
The award lands as agricultural trade between the two countries reaches new highs. Morocco’s farm imports from the US hit about MAD 8.155 billion ($815.5 million) in 2025, up from MAD 5.92 billion ($592 million) in 2024, a rise of 38%.
The main products were corn, soybean products, and almonds. Morocco remains the only African country with a free-trade agreement with the US, in force since January 1, 2006.
Market access has widened alongside trade. On May 6, the USDA finalized a breakthrough that opened four new markets for American exports of bovine embryos, chicken hatching eggs, sheep, and goats.
The changes made the US the only country with official access for bovine embryos to Morocco, while securing three existing pipelines for US live poultry and day-old chicks. The department projected MAD 37.5 million ($3.75 million) in total export value over five years, a projection rather than recorded sales.
Research ties have deepened in parallel. On April 15, Morocco’s National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA) received a North Dakota delegation led by State Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring.
The talks covered conservation agriculture, climate adaptation, and genetic improvement of durum wheat and barley, with particular emphasis on Morocco’s target of expanding conservation agriculture to one million hectares by 2030.
Commercial outreach has run on a similar track. In December 2024, the USDA brought nearly 50 American agribusinesses and 14 state agriculture departments to Casablanca, using Morocco as a gateway to West African markets. A Moroccan delegation returned the visit in California in June 2025, focusing on biotechnology, tree nuts, and sustainable farming.
The flow has run in both directions. In June, President Donald Trump suspended certain antidumping and countervailing duties on Moroccan phosphate fertilizer for eight months, clearing OCP Group’s return to the US market.
On August 17, OCP North America said a first shipment of about 54,000 metric tons of triple superphosphate had reached the Port of New Orleans, bound for American farmers ahead of the fall season. The USDA estimated the suspension could cut phosphate fertilizer costs by as much as 22%, saving around MAD 18.2 billion ($1.82 billion) a year across roughly 100,000 farms.
The partnership is set to deepen on US soil. On August 26, OCP North America and CHS, the largest farmer-owned cooperative in the US, announced a proposed joint venture to build a phosphate fertilizer plant at Cornerstone Energy Park in Waggaman, Louisiana.
The project carries an investment of up to MAD 4.5 billion ($450 million) and would be the first facility of its kind built in the country since 1984. Once operational, it is expected to produce more than 1 million metric tons a year and has been submitted for possible support under the USDA’s FIELDS program.
