The American Lamb Board (ALB) has approved a new long range plan for 2018-2022 to focus the work of the checkoff and its stakeholders in the areas of promotion, information and research over the next five years – and it boldly sets a 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 future holds tremendous promise for our industry which produces a unique, flavorful, tender and nutritious protein that meets the changing needs and preferences of consumers,” says Jim Percival, Xenia, Ohio, ALB chairman. “Improving the quality and consistency of our products to ensuring consumers have a great eating experience every time, increasing our industry’s productivity and stabilizing our prices are all critical to the success of creating demand for American Lamb.”

ALB is committed to Five Core Strategies outlined in the Long Range Plan that aim 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,” Percival says.

The Long Range Plan identifies key trends and opportunities in today’s marketing climate. Global demand growth, interest in buying local and production practices, changing consumer preferences, nutrition perceptions of lamb, as well as the price and perceived value of American Lamb all influenced the five core strategies outlined in the Long Range Plan.

“We trust that other stakeholders and allied industry partners will seek opportunities to align their plans with this plan and find ways to support the industry-wide objectives. We all benefit when we focus our efforts to build demand for American Lamb,” Percival says.

To download the full version of the Long Range Plan, go to www.LambResourceCenter.com/lamb-checkoff/longrangeplan/.