Source: Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE, 4/28/16


The National Chicken Council has released a study that presents the results of a 2015 broiler industry survey that defends the current business model under which poultry growers raise birds under contract for large poultry processing companies.

“Viewed in totality, live chicken production is a viable, mutually beneficial and attractive farming enterprise for the vast majority of farm families who raise chickens in partnership with the companies they work with,” noted agriculture economist and the study’s author, Dr. Thomas Elam, president of FarmEcon LLC. 

The study comes a week after The House Appropriations Committee narrowly approved an amendment to funding legislation that would stop USDA’s Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) from finalizing rules that National Farmer’s Union President Roger Johnson said would have addressed “abusive contracting and marketing practices in the highly concentrated livestock and poultry sectors — such as prohibiting retaliation for farmers who speak to USDA or with members of Congress and requiring transparency in how pay is calculated.” 

NCC President Mike Brown responded to the NFU charges last week by saying the current contracting system has worked well for more than 60 years and has helped promote steady improvements in live chicken performance that have benefited chicken farmers, the companies they produce for, the well-being of the birds, and ultimately consumers.

Also last week, a federal judge in Texas on Friday dismissed with prejudice a $500 million lawsuit filed by chicken growers claiming Pilgrim’s Pride violated federal law by wielding market power to manipulate pricing when it closed several plants amid the economic recession in 2009. 

The NCC report released this week, based on data from companies responsible for 92 percent of U.S. chicken production, said chicken farmers generally have higher incomes compared to all farms and all U.S. households.

Responding companies reported significant waiting lists for those who would like to enter live chicken production or expand existing operations. Companies reported that they have 1,858 applications from potential live chicken producers who would like to get into chicken production.

A copy of the NCC study is available by clicking here.

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