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Ag economist says HPAI could impact chicken production

The USDA has raised chicken production for 2022 and 2023 and lowered prices in its latest Supply and Demand report, but University of Missouri ag economist Scott Brown says there is more to the story. 

He tells Brownfield that rising cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza could impact those numbers. “Does that early high path avian influenza pull back production,” he asks. “I think that that’s yet to be determined. But if it were to happen, again, I think we’ll get higher chicken prices, higher egg prices, and higher turkey prices.”  And, he says many turkey producers are still recovering from the HPAI cases earlier in the year.

On the input side, Brown says USDA’s projected feed costs remained about the same and that is good news for both poultry and livestock producers. “The USDA raised its projection for the 2022 – 2023 corn price by $0.10, so not a big change,” he says.  “And left soybean meal unchanged relative to where they were in August.”

The next set of Supply and Demand numbers come out October 12.