The Impact on the Australian Lamb Industry of Producing Larger Leaner Lamb

An equilibrium displacement model of the Australian lamb industry was used to estimate the changes in economic surplus to the producers, processors and consumers of lamb from an increase in the proportion of total production meeting the criteria for Elite lamb. This change in the nature of the product has implications for consumer demand and for processing and production costs. Estimates of the expected changes in these demand and supply parameters are presented in the paper. The potential demand shift was estimated to be much larger than the changes in production and processing costs and consequently was most influential in determining the extent of the benefits from the change in technology