The U.S. Poultry Industry: Changing Economics and Structure

Abstract

While per capita consumption of poultry meat in 1981 has nearly doubled since 1960, retail prices rose only 74 percent for broilers, 67 percent for turkeys, and 59 percent for eggs. Vertical integration and technological advancements in the poultry industry have vastly improved production and efficiency, and enabled producers to hold costs down. Farm sales totaled $3.6 billion for eggs,$4.5 billion for broilers, and over $1.2 billion for turkeys in 1981, up from about$2 billion for eggs, $533 million for broilers, and$270 million for turkeys during the early fifties. Consumers paid only 86 percent more for poultry in 1981 than they did in 1960, compared with a 212-percent increase for all food