November 17, 2000

Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman is providing 15 grants totaling nearly $3.85 million to fund marketing and promotion projects to help increase sales of U.S. lamb as part of a three-year $100 million assistance plan to help sheep and lamb producers. Last year, the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled 6-0 that the recent surge of low-priced imported lamb meat threatens to injure U.S. producers. The assistance package will help the U.S. lamb industry achieve sustained competitiveness, while respecting international trade obligations.

The plan includes $30 million for direct cash payments tied to production practices and quality incentives that improve competitiveness. It also funds USDA purchases of lamb and expanded scrapie eradication efforts.

USDA awarded grants to the National Meat Association for $500,000 to conduct media advertising campaign in specific market regions; the American Lamb Council for $1.8 million for five proposals to 1) develop a U.S. lamb seal; 2) conduct targeted retail promotion; 3) conduct culinary outreach; 4) develop a lamb information center; and, 5) conduct a consumer positioning campaign; to Cornell University for $249,488 to 1)develop a small ruminant teleauction; 2) design a kosher/halal harvesting facility; 3) establish a marketing pool; 4) create the Northeast Regional Marketing Association; and, 5) convene two marketing summits.

Also grants were made to the Meat Export Federation -- $225,500 to conduct an exporter training seminar and to conduct in-country marketing in Mexico; to Iowa Lamb -- $226,500 to conduct lamb retail promotion campaigns in two supermarket chains in the Southeast, and a foodservice promotion in the western U.S.; to Wolverine Packing Company -- $250,000 to conduct Midwest regional supermarket lamb promotion and to develop pre-printed, full color consumer friendly packaging for retail; to Dakota Lamb -- $250,000 for development of value added lamb products and the development of natural and organic lamb markets; to Kansas State University -- $200,186 for research on utilizing lower valued lamb cuts and to Colorado State University/ Mountain States Lamb Cooperative -- $115,000 to design criteria and a grid for value based marketing.

An additional $1 million of funding for lamb market promotion projects under the Lamb Meat Adjustment Assistance Program will be announced in the Federal Register in the near future.