Comments Needed for Lamb Industry Assessment Increase

I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report.

The American Lamb Board is urging its industry members to comment on the proposed amendment to increase the assessment rate for the Lamb Promotion, Research and Information Order that was published mid-June in the Federal Register.

American Lamb Board Executive Director Megan Wortman explains why the Board is requesting its first proposed assessment rate increase.

Wortman: “We’ve seen our budget over the past 10 years sliding down, production has been going down slightly each year. At the same time, the cost of doing business and promoting lamb is going up. We just think it is really important. We know from consumer research that more than one-third of Americans have never even tried lamb. So to really move the needle and make an impact in terms of increasing awareness and getting more people to choose lamb, we just need more dollars to stay effective and deliver a good return to our investors.”

The proposed amendment would increase the assessment rate from $.005 to $.007 per pound for live sheep and lamb sold by producers, feeders and seedstock producers. For sheep and lamb purchased for slaughter by first handlers, the rate would increase from 30 cents to 42 cents per head. This equates to about $700,000 additional funding to educate consumers, retailers and chefs on the benefits of American Lamb.

Industry participants have until August 12th to submit their comments at www.federalregister.gov.

I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.