Sheep Industry News February 2024

Annual Convention Wraps Up in Denver T he first hour of the Lamb Council meeting at the 2024 ASI Annual Convention in Denver last month drew a larger than average crowd as representatives ing them we have a lawyer on retainer and we’re going to continue to watch this like a hawk,” Boner said. “And con tinue to make sure that if they ever stub their toe and give us a window, we’ll be ready.”

from Watts and Associates conducted the final listening ses sion on creating a new federal risk management program for the sheep industry. As was the case with previous listening sessions, some producers arrived expecting to hear the details of a product that will essentially replace the previous LRP-Lamb program. But a replacement program doesn’t currently exist. The ses sions were designed to give producers a voice in designing a program that might be developed down the road. “This is just a feasibility study,” said Mark Boyd of Watts and Associates, which conducted three listening sessions in-person and one online. “We’ll submit a report to the (U.S. Department of Agriculture’s) Risk Management Agency in the next month.” Boyd said the listening sessions looked to determine what insurance products would be most beneficial to the Ameri can sheep industry, including the possibility of covering such things as mortality, yield, price, revenue, etc. The main deficiency of the previous lamb insurance program was the lack of price reporting due to consolida tion within the industry. That problem still exists more than two years after LRP-Lamb went away for good, and the issue will have to be addressed in some form if a new insurance product is to be made available in the future. The decision on whether or not to move forward will soon be in the hands of RMA. The opening session of the convention hosted a farm bill panel which featured senior staff from the Agriculture Committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Justin Benavidez with Chairman G.T. Thompson’s staff and Trey Forsyth with Ranking Member John Boozman’s team provided a comprehensive overview of the upcoming Farm Bill with respect to funding and the current legislative calen dar, as well touching on key priorities important to the sheep and livestock industry. In other news from the convention, ASI President Brad Boner of Wyoming and ASI Executive Director Peter Orwick addressed the ongoing issue of lamb imports – an issue Orwick said has plagued the American sheep industry since the loss of the National Wool Act in the 1990s that led to a dramatic decrease in the American flock. ASI investigated all aspects of filing a trade case against imports from Aus tralia and New Zealand, but legal experts advised that even a victory would provide minimal relief when factoring in estimated legal costs of more than $1 million. “Two things I think we need to do, not be shy about tell

On the wool side, the ASI Board of Directors heard from a panel of innovators, including David Fisher of Texas, John Helle of Montana and Bob Padula of Minnesota. Fisher and Helle discussed the challenges with creating their own lines of wool textile products, while Padula walked produc ers through the process of establishing a partnership with WeatherWool. Isak Statt from BKB provided a comprehensive Global Wool update at the Wool Roundtable. Additionally, innova tors Albert Wilde of Wilde Valley Farms (specializing in wool fertilizer pellets) and Marie Hoff of Full Circle Wool (introducing wool sponges) shared exciting new product ideas. The event also featured a presentation from Jake Vuil lemin of USDA’s Farm Service Agency about the available wool LDP/MAL program that has been used by many grow ers during the last three years. Mike Conover of Fibershed and Linda Poole with the National Center for Appropriate Technology discussed the Climate Beneficial Fiber Part nership that received a $30 million USDA grant in 2023. Other topics included carbon credits and an overview of the domestic textile industry. Three new representatives were elected to the ASI Execu tive Board during the Saturday morning regional caucuses at the convention. Laurie Hubbard (Region I), Anne Crider (Region 3) and Tammy Fisher (Region V) were not eligible for reelection after serving two terms on the Executive Board. Those open spots were filled by Kevin Melvin of New Jersey, Larry Hopkins of Indiana and Rodney Kott of Texas, respectively. John Noh of Idaho was reelected in Region VII, as were each of ASI’s officer team: Boner as president, Ben Lehfeldt of Montana as vice president and Joe Pozzi of Cali fornia as secretary/treasurer. Mark your calendars for the next Annual Convention on Jan. 15-18, 2025, in Scottsdale, Ariz.

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