Optimal market conditions sustained and grew 2015 U.S. compound feed production by 2.1 percent over 2014 volumes. WATT Global Media’s World Feed Panorama estimates the U.S. feed industry produced more than 166 million metric tons of compound feed, making it the world’s largest livestock food producer.
See the entire report on Top Feed Companies in the US in the November/December issue of Feed Management.
With the exception of a few rough years, U.S. compound feed production has been steadily on rise for 15 years. This trend has been largely driven by expansion in the poultry sector.
A look at US poultry feed production
The United Nation's Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) predicts that by 2024 an additional 26 million metric tons of poultry meat will be produced worldwide, accounting for half of all meat production. The United States is one of the main poultry producing regions – accounting for about 19 percent of world production. According to the National Chicken Council (NCC), in 2016 the amount of mixed feed fed to poultry in the United States is estimated to be about 57.2 million metric tons.
When looking at the largest American feed manufacturers, few companies publicly share the by-species breakout of their compound feed production. For the purposes of this analysis, the table included aims to identify the largest U.S. compound feed manufacturers who produce poultry feeds in addition to other offerings.
While one could argue that other companies produce more poultry feed overall, the criteria for our Top Feed Companies ranking is simple: it only includes companies with a total compound feed production volume of more than 1 million metric tons during the calendar year.
You'll also gain access to tables and figures about:
- The top U.S. poultry feed companies and the other animal feeds they produce
- U.S. compound feed production from 2001-2015
- The top 5 U.S. states for broiler feed consumption
