- Approximately 30 federally-inspected companies are involved in the business of raising, processing and marketing chickens on a “vertically integrated” basis – that is, the company is able to ensure quality at each step of the process.
- About 25,000 family farmers have production contracts with the companies. Approximately 95 percent of broiler chickens are produced on these farms, with the remaining 5 percent raised on company-owned farms.
- In 2018, more than 9 billion broiler chickens, weighing 56.5 billion pounds, liveweight, were produced. More than 42.5 billion pounds of chicken product was marketed, measured on a ready-to-cook basis.
- The United States has the largest broiler chicken industry in the world with about 17 percent of production exported to other countries in 2018.
- The United States is the second leading broiler exporter in the world, behind Brazil.
- The top 3 export destinations (value) in 2018 were Mexico, Canada and Cuba.
- The top 3 export destinations (volume) in 2018 were Mexico, Angola and Taiwan.
- Americans consume more chicken than anyone else in the world – more than 93.5 pounds per capita in 2018 – the number one protein consumed in the United States.
- The top 5 broiler producing states are: Georgia, Arkansas, Alabama, North Carolina and Mississippi.
| Basic economic measurements include: | |
|---|---|
| Number of slaughter/evisceration plants | 180 |
| Number of workers directly employed | 355,00 |
| Number of workers indirectly employed | 1.2 million |
| Number of family farms growing broilers and/or producing hatching eggs | 25,000 |
| Amount of corn used for broiler and breeder feed | More than 1.2 billion bushels |
| Amount of soybean (meal component) used for Broiler and breeder feed |
More than 500 million bushels |
| Amount of mixed feed used | 60 million tons |
| Wholesale value of industry shipments | $65 billion |
| Consumer retail expenditures for chicken | $95 billion |
