Progress Report on the Lamb Industry Roadmap

July 8, 2014

The five Roadmap Teams have been hard at work over the past three months and their areas of activity are now coming into greater focus. The following is a “draft statement” of the objectives that the five Roadmap Teams are working on. As the next six months unfold, these objectives will become even sharper and more defined. But for now, the following gives you a great idea of what the five teams are actively engaged in.

  1. Implementation Team

Develop a plan to increase the percentage of the U.S. slaughter lambs that are sold on a value-based pricing scheme.

Determine the best way to use electronic grading in the U.S. lamb industry.

Develop appropriate metrics to measure progress of the Lamb Industry Roadmap.

  1. Product Characteristics Team

Develop a list of best practices that could be promoted to eliminate, or at least reduce, the occurrence of undesirable flavors and aromas in American lamb products.

Develop specifications or criteria that can be used, similar to certification practices, to provide assurance that consumers will rarely, if ever, consume undesirable lamb meat.

  1. Productivity Improvement

Develop a plan to promote the formation of Producer Profitability Groups that will provide “hands on” assistance to sheep producers through production specialists and peer relationships.

Conduct a needs assessment and develop a plan to educate and support genetic improvement in the U.S. sheep industry.

Support ASI-PERC in initiating a long range plan to prioritize and fund U.S. sheep research and producer education to be completed in 2015.

  1. Demand Creation Team

Identify key marketing attributesfor American lamb that distinguish it from imported lamb and other proteins. These attributes will help define a positive American Lamb identity (an updated fresh brand) that will be used by the entire industry to promote American Lamb.

Establish a traditional marketing advisory committee comprised of the mainstream packers/breakers/marketers that meets with the ALB periodically to review programs and events as well as advise on market trends and strategic direction.

Develop a set of action steps for the American Lamb Board to support producers who sell lambs into the non-traditional marketing channel based, in part, on the recent report to ALB on the non-traditional market segment.

The Demand Creation Team conducted an in-person meeting in Denver following the meeting of the Board of Directors for ALB in mid-June. Both meetings generated lots of marketing ideas. The ideas far exceed the revenue of ALB which is now prioritizing the potential initiatives down to a manageable list. We will hear much more from both the Demand Creation Team and ALB within the next month or two.

  1. Industry Communications Team

Remain on “Stand-by Alert” to address industry mis-communications if and when they arise.

Identify practical ways to improve industry-wide collaboration.

Address ways to improve industry reporting on industry inventories.

Send your ideas via email to members of any of the Roadmap Teams. A list of the members of each team and their email addresses is attached below

Roadmap Team Members and their Email Addresses

IMPLEMENTATION COMMITTEE
Bob Ludwig, Chair /
Wes Patton /
Cody Hiemke /
Clint Krebs /
Burdell Johnson /
Clark Willis /
Milt Ward /
Reid Redden /
Dennis Stiffler /
Rick Stott /
Greg Deakin /
Paul Russell /
Richard Hamilton /
PRODUCT CHARACTERISTICS COMMITTEE
Henry Zerby, Co-Chair /
Daryl Tatum, Co-Chair /
Bob Harlan /
Elizabeth Dressler /
Keith Belk /
Bill Sessions /
Marsha Spykerman /
Mike Caskey /
Implementation Committee Liaison
Dennis Stiffler /
DEMAND CREATION COMMITTEE
Nick Forrest, Chair /
Gary Pfeiffer /
David Gage /
Antonio Manzanares /
Benny Cox /
Don Van Nostran /
Don Watson /
Joanne Evans /
Jeff Hasbrouck /
John Oswalt /
Implementation Committee Liaison
Cody Hiemke /
PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVEMENT COMMITTEE
Susan Shultz, Chair /
Gary Visintainer /
Mike Corn /
Stan Potratz /
Ryan Indart /
Glen Fisher /
John Helle /
Chris Schauer /
John Carlson /
Richard Ehrhardt /
Susan Schoenian /
Implementation Committee Liaison
Reid Redden /
INDUSTRY COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
Frank Moore, Chair /
Dan Lippert /
Ben Lehfeldt /
Burton Pfliger /
Peter Orwick /
Steve Schreier /
Megan Wortman /
Greg Ahart /
Kevin Quam /
Implementation Committee Liaison
Paul Russell /

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