The news from Washington was music to the ears of Lorin Moench Jr., who runs a 40,000-acre sheep ranch east of Park City.
Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will begin accepting proposals to fund up to $4 million in marketing and promotion projects designed to up the sales of U.S. lamb.New and existing marketing programs will be considered for funding.
The U.S. International Trade Commission ruled in February 1999 that a surge of low-priced imported lamb meat was threatening American lamb producers. And President Clinton last July announced a three-year plan geared toward helping the dwindling American sheep industry.
"The market is wide open in the U.S.," Moench said. "The promotion is just getting out there in front of people so there aren't peaks and valleys (in sales), so there's a constant demand."
In America, lamb is a niche market or specialty item for many consumers, but he and other ranchers want to change that. "Lamb is a great product," said Moench, who is the immediate past president of the American Sheep Industry Association.
The association maintains that lamb is nutritious, tasty and can be eaten by nearly everyone. It also suits a variety of world cuisines and can be prepared in many ways.
"When the United Nations had its 50th anniversary, what item was on the menu? They had lamb. There are no religious taboos, and everybody likes it," Moench said. "Once people try it, it's great. But it's just like anything else, there are so many other things out there competing for the consumer's dollar, unless people are reminded of it, they won't buy it."
The United States lags far behind other countries when it comes to lamb consumption, said Moench, adding that Americans annually consume about three-quarters of a pound of lamb per capita, while Australians and New Zealanders eat about 50 pounds per year.
However, the United States has the potential to be a huge market for lamb, which is why ranchers in Australian and New Zealand have been flooding the market here. The international exporters have done especially well with Sam's Club and Costco sales.
Lamb might be fairly unknown in some parts of the country, but it is big on the East Coast, West Coast, in restaurants and with certain ethnic groups in the United States. That demand can grow, as well as the demand by other consumers who have little or no experience with this meat.
Moench said the promotional dollars are part of the overall three-year, $100 million plan. "There are different elements of the package. Part of it is for helping producers who have facilities to produce more lambs. Part is for promotion. Part is for purchasing lamb at downtimes when there's an overabundance of lamb," which then can be used in such things as school lunch programs, he said.
The American Sheep Industry Association is doing promotions, largely through its Web site, www.sheepusa.org, which includes such things as easy and fast recipes for people unfamiliar with lamb.
The sheep industry took a heavy blow in 1993 when Congress repealed the Wool Act of 1954, which Moench said was proposed originally by then-Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson. He later became president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Congress eliminated the check-off program, which sent money to the sheep industry, but Moench said the United States still collects tariffs on imported wool and puts it in the general fund.
Since 1993, he said the number of sheep ranchers in American has dropped from 140,000 to about 68,000. In Utah, there now are about 1,700 sheep ranchers.
"The industry is losing 10 percent of its members every year since 1993," he said.