HISTORY OF USA POULTRY & EGG EXPORT COUNCIL
Throughout the world, USAPEEC touts the high quality of American poultry and egg products.
USAPEEC has evolved from an association promoting U.S. poultry and egg products through its network of 14 international offices and consultants, to an organisation that is an advocate for the industry on trade policy issues.
Our growth
Ever transforming USAPEEC has never strayed from its roots as a promotional organization.
Birth
In 1956, three years after USDA organized the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) as an arm of government with a goal of helping U.S. agriculture establish its presence in a global marketplace, USAPEEC's predecessor organization, the Poultry & Egg Institute of America (PEIA), entered into a marketing arrangement with FAS. As a result, PEIA became a FAS cooperator organization and was charged with the responsibility of administering export promotion funds allocated annually by USDA as part of the Farm Bill.
SPEA
For years, PEIA operated independently as an export trade association. In the late 1970s, PEIA fell on hard times. The U.S. Poultry & Egg Association then known as the Southeastern Poultry & Egg Association (SPEA) stepped in and salvaged the organization, making it a division of SPEA, and changed its name to the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council as of March 15, 1984. During the period that USAPEEC operated as a division of SPEA (March 15, 1984 - Sept. 30, 1985), SPEA provided $154,000 in funding for USPEEC's operations.
Today
In September 1985, USAPEEC became a separate corporation but continued to share office space with SPEA. In March 1986, USAPEEC moved to its first office in Tucker, Georgia. During that first fiscal year of USAPEEC's existence as a separate entity, SPEA contributed $125,000 to USAPEEC's operations. Jim Sumner was named president in 1990, and in 1992, USAPEEC moved to expanded quarters in Stone Mountain, Ga. In April 2011, USAPEEC moved back to Tucker in the newly renovated headquarters of USPOULTRY, and is part owner of the building.