SHEEPMEAT industry leaders from the US, New Zealand and Australia, forming the "Tri-Lamb" partnership, agreed to jointly fund a three-year $1m dollar marketing program last week that aims to lift the consumption of lamb in the US.
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Sheepmeat Council President, Kate Joseph, representing Australia on "Tri-Lamb", led discussions around what sheepmeat producers could do in each of the three countries to help gain increased sales in the lucrative US market, now worth over $300m dollars for Australia alone.
“Australia has recently provided US producers with access to better breeding information through Lambplan, which will help ensure quality product is available year round,” Ms Joseph said.
“On average, each American consumes around 1 pound (lb) of lamb a year, with many Americans having never tried it at all. One more lamb chop on the American dinner plate would significantly increase our export value to the US,” Ms Joseph said.
The new marketing program will focus on raising awareness around the nutritional benefits of lamb and target several geographic locations throughout the US.
As well as the formal meeting of Tri-Lamb held in Adelaide last week, the three countries representatives took part in a technical conference on sheep improvement hosted by the Sheep Co-operative Research Centre. The conference offered information on the latest Australian sheep industry R&D and identified mechanisms that could be of value to all three countries.
"We don’t view each other as competitors in the lamb industry. Our market development work in the US is based around sharing our concerns, challenges and opportunities for growing demand for lamb in a highly competitive protein market,” Ms Joseph said.
Tri-Lamb plays an important role for the Australian sheep industry in remaining competitive in the US and building market share against other major protein sources, such as pork and poultry.
Last year Sheepmeat Council attended the American Sheep Industry Association Annual Convention where the countries agreed to extend their collective work, re-signing the Tri-Lamb Memorandum of Understanding.
Ms Joseph said that the achievements of the group had extended across a range of areas, from market access work to policy development, and had come a long way since its establishment in 2003.
The Tri-Lamb Group is a collaborative initiative between lamb producer organisations from the US, Australia and New Zealand to enhance the profitability and sustainability of the lamb market in the United States for the three supplying countries.
