(NAFB.com) – The American Lamb Board attended the 2025 Annual Meat Conference sponsored by the Meat Institute. It brings together all segments of the retail meat industry to learn how to improve meat and poultry marketing, operations, and profitability. In 2024, dollar and volume sales of meat and poultry experienced growth. One exceptionally bright spot for lamb was the growth in fresh meat sales. Fresh meat had a remarkable year, with sales exceeding $73 billion, which was a 6.7 percent increase over 2023. “You see that fresh meat had a tremendous year, led by beef, but almost all proteins gained in pounds,” says Anne-Marie Roerink, president of 201 Analytics, which conducted the 2025 Power of Meat Study. “Lamb, for instance, will likely become a billion-dollar category over the next year.” Many consumers in the study indicated a desire to create more premium meals at home, another bright spot for American lamb.