The American Lamb Board (ALB) has approved a new long range plan for 2018-2022 that sets a bold new demand growth goal.
The strategic objective of the plan is to increase demand for American Lamb by 2 percent annually over the next five years, for a total demand growth of 10 percent. Per capita consumption of lamb in the U.S. has remained steady over the past ten years at approximately one pound per person per year with nearly 20 percent of lamb consumption occurring during the spring holidays. Urban shoppers are the most likely to consume lamb with the highest consumption occurring on the East and West Coasts. In 2015, lamb demand was up 7 percent compared to 2014 and increased again in 2016 by 2.5 percent.
The Long Range Plan outlines Five Core Strategies to increase the demand for American Lamb.
• Grow awareness and increase usage of American Lamb among chefs and consumers
• Promote and strengthen American Lamb’s Value Proposition
• Improve the quality and consistency of American Lamb
• Support industry efforts to increase domestic supplies of lamb
• Collaborate and communicate with industry partners and stakeholders to expand efforts to address the first four strategies
“Using these core strategies, the ALB will create budgets and annual work plans to achieve the goals and initiatives set by the Long Range Plan. America’s lamb producers are excited about the work we’ll be doing over the next several years to increase the demand not just for lamb, but specifically for American Lamb,” says Ohio lamb producer Jim Percival, ALB chairman.