According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, the total number of chickens currently slaughtered on average in the United States equals approximately one million birds an hour –that’s one million every hour, day and night, every day of the year.
- The first chart is US chicken production as a percentage of the total estimated US population since the depression. The industry is losing millions every day and there has been no real change in capacity. This can’t continue!
- The second chart is the per capita estimates that the National Agricultural Statistics Service team prepared. Do you think we eat enough chicken? Also, per capita consumption is clearly on the decline. The theory of trading down to chicken in a slow economic environment looks to be a myth.
- The excess capacity of broiler production in this country is staggering. It’s going to take a massive cut back in capacity to fix the supply issues. The question is who will blink first? The answer lies in the balance sheets….
