West Virginia Department of Agriculture, Kent Leonhardt, Commissioner

*SUSTA Member State

WVDA Business Development provides technical support and resources through partnerships with other government entities, organizations and trade experts to help take your business internationally. This page is intended to help your business grow, innovate, and add new jobs. Many agriculture exporters in West Virginia are small and mid-sized businesses. Each of them helps in the growth of our state’s economy by bringing their goods and services to the global marketplace.

Planning Resources

Successful Exporting

Are you ready to commit to successful exporting? This exercise [ 1021.9 kB ] will help you set goals and evaluate your company from within by analyzing: management’s export experience, management and personnel, production capacity and financial capacity.

Develop Your Export Plan

The West Virginia Small Business Development Center (WV SBDC) can assist you in getting your business ready to export, identifying trade opportunities help you create a plan that will lead to success, accessing export financing, and more.

Technical and Financial Assistance

Export Webinars

Do you feel that you are ready to export, but are unsure of all the steps involved? The West Virginia Department of Agriculture, along with the Southern United States Trade Association (SUSTA), offers Export Education webinars. These webinars feature presenters from both WVDA and SUSTA who will discuss exporting assistance offered by their organizations.

Southern United States Trade Association (SUSTA)

The Southern United States Trade Association (SUSTA) is an organization helping small companies in the southern United States promote their U.S. food and agricultural products in foreign markets. SUSTA is a nonprofit organization funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA's) Market Access Program. SUSTA works with representatives from Southern U.S. State Departments of Agriculture to educate companies and carry out their activities. The USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) partners with SUSTA and small businesses to share the costs of overseas marketing and promotional activities. SUSTA has two major assistance programs: Global Events and 50% CostShare. SUSTA services are available to all companies with an eligible MySUSTA account.

West Virginia Economic Development Exporting Assistance

The West Virginia Economic Development Office provides exporting assistance through various programs. The Export Promotion Program helps companies navigate the global marketplace, providing support, counseling and connections. The services offered through the Export Promotion Program provide the strong framework needed for companies to grow and expand internationally. In addition, the export assistance program, called West Virginia First STEP-Next STEP, provides funding and offers four different programs under this grant – Export Promotion Program, the International Trade Exhibition Program, West Virginia Trade Show Pavilions, and the Market Finder Reimbursement.

U.S. Commercial Service

The US Commercial Service (USCS) is the trade promotion arm of the International Trade Administration within the United States Department of Commerce. The mission of the USCS is to promote the export of goods and services from the United States. By focusing on small- and medium-sized businesses, USCS works to represent U.S. business interests internationally and to help U.S. businesses find qualified international partners. The USCS Rural Export Center can provide customized market research, due diligence service, website globalization, and export education.

Additional Resources

Basic Guide to Exporting: Guide_To_Exporting.pdf (trade.gov)
Learn How to Export: Learn How To Export (trade.gov)
Regulations and Requirements: Regulations & Requirements | USDA Foreign Agricultural Service

Ready to Get Started?

WVDA is here to help your company expand into global markets. For assistance, please fill out the form and return the completed copy to WVDA Business Development Planning Coordinator, Ashley Amos at aamos@wvda.us.