Animal Protein Reports

Pork’s Opportunity to Reconnect with U.S. Consumers Has Never Been Bigger

May 2025

While pork is the most widely consumed meat in the world, consumption of pork in the U.S. trails well behind chicken and moderately behind beef.

Beef-on-Dairy Data Suggests Opportunity for Feedlots and Processors

February 2025

Dairy producers have taken notice of higher cattle prices and accelerated the use of beef genetics on their dairy cows over the past seven years.

Surging Egg Prices are Being Driven by More than Bird Flu

February 2025

Through January 2025, the U.S. egg industry now has 8% fewer egg-laying hens than it did three years ago as affected flocks are depopulated.

Turkey is the Price-Savvy Protein for Thanksgiving

November 2024

Thanksgiving is the second-largest U.S. food holiday, driving an estimated $2.1 billion in sales lift at grocery stores.

Beef Calf Prices and Forage are Stalling the Herd Rebuild

August 2024

The U.S. beef cow inventory is the lowest in 63 years.

Rapid Expansion of Soybean Crush Capacity Risks Exceeding Growth of Renewable Diesel

March 2024

The push for renewable diesel is boosting demand for soybean oil as a feedstock.

Breeding Beef with Dairy Brings New Value to Marketplace

August 2023

Abysmally dry weather conditions across the U.S. have led to extensive culling in the beef cow herd and will tighten beef supplies for years to come.

Pork Producer Optimism Dampened by Triple Threats

July 2023

Across the board in animal protein, producers have been dealing with input inflation. Pork producers in particular have been struggling, as hog values languished through mid-year and have not kept pace with costs.

Retailers to Appease Grillers with Value-Oriented Meat Features this Season

April 2023

In the years since COVID impacted consumers’ spending, the where, what and why of their decision-making process has been through a massive shift. For Americans, the product scarcity of the first and second quarters of 2020 proved paramount in what they put into their grocery carts. 

Chicken Wings and Breast Meat Set to Offer Reprieve for Inflation-Weary Consumers

March 2023

Chicken Wings and Breast Meat Set to Offer Reprieve for Inflation-Weary Consumers

Higher-Priced Turkeys on the Holiday Menu

November 2022

After grappling with staff shortages, plant closures, and supply issues, the turkey industry has been hit by yet another problem in 2022: the worst Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) outbreak in U.S. history.

The HPAI Stakes are Higher This Time

September 2022

Seven years after the last outbreak, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza emerged again in 2022 in U.S. commercial poultry flocks. More than 40 million birds have been depopulated, disrupting supplies of eggs and turkey in particular.

Rising Deli Meat Prices Pressure Back-to-School Budgets

August 2022

Now that the universal federal free lunch program of the pandemic era has ended, more parents may be packing their kids’ back-to-school lunches — and facing sticker shock in the deli aisle.

Consumers to Take on Higher Prices in the Meat Case This Summer

April 2022

In 2021 the market for proteins witnessed a new type of consumer, one who is less sensitive to higher retail meat prices and more interested in

Pandemic, Higher Costs and Avian Flu Put Easter Egg Supplies at Risk

March 2022

U.S. egg producers have been hard-pressed in the past two years to align supplies with market demand. The flock typically expands ahead of demand for Easter and contracts during the summer months when interest wanes.

U.S. Animal Protein Needs Trade Negotiators Back at the Table

November 2021

For more than a decade, free trade has become decidedly less popular in the U.S. Unfortunately for U.S. meat exporters, the rest of the world continues to make headway on trade agreements that threaten to put U.S. producers at a disadvantage in global markets.

Dollar Divergence: US Dollar Index Does Not Reflect True Dollar Impact on US Ag Exports

February 2021

The U.S. Dollar Index saw rapid deflation in 2020 and has coincided with a rally in commodity prices. 

The Great Grocery Grab of 2020 and the Ongoing Impact to U.S. Animal Protein

January 2021

2020 was the most volatile and, for many, the most challenging year in U.S. animal protein history.