DENVER, Colo. (RFD News) — The U.S. sheep industry continues facing mounting challenges ranging from labor shortages to growing foreign competition.
Mike Michener, Executive Director of the American Sheep Industry Association, says producers are dealing with rising costs and increased pressure from imported lamb products.
“Costs are too high, prices are too volatile, and risks are unmitigated,” Michener explains. “So, on the cost side, we talked a lot about labor costs, particularly the H2A visa issue. Our producers are paying so much for their H2A labor, and it’s such a bureaucratic burden, all the paperwork and everything they have to do. So, if we could help simplify the process and lower those H2A costs for our producers, because they’re getting squeezed on both sides, you know, you’ve got imports really depressing prices for lamb meat, but you’ve got their costs going up, so they’re really getting squeezed on both sides.”
Producers are also dealing with predator losses and depressed prices tied to a sharp increase in lamb imports.
At the same time, the industry continues looking for ways to expand export opportunities for American wool through USDA-backed market promotion programs.
“One in particular is the quality samples program that we really use in China to promote American wool, and that’s important because we’re not just promoting the sale of American wool to China as an endpoint. China actually has all that first-stage processing capacity for wool, so that first-stage processing is critical, because that’s the entry point into the global wool textile market.”
While the industry continues working to expand wool demand in China, USDA says Australian wool still dominates much of that market.
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