Meat and Poultry Production to Slow Despite 2022’s Robust Profits, CoBank Says

Jan 03, 2023

Despite "tectonic shifts" in consumer eating habits, record high feed costs, labor shortages and supply chain logjams, CoBank says most U.S. animal protein industry segments have posted phenomenal financial performance over the past three years. However, CoBank Knowledge Exchange’s latest quarterly report says this broad-based era of profitability will likely come to an end in 2023.

"On the supply side, the high costs of feed, labor and construction support the prevailing cautionary mood toward expanding production. On the demand side, consumers are reeling from rapidly declining real wages – a trend likely to continue well into 2023," says Brian Earnest, lead economist, animal protein at CoBank. "Add in climate uncertainties, ESG pressures and increasing labor and energy costs and it’s likely that 2023 will be a year when major market participants pause, reflect and guard balance sheets."

Over the past two years, consumer red meat demand has remained steadfast despite the highest inflation in more than 40 years. CoBank notes the following observations in its report:

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Video: Four Star Pork Industry Conf - Back to Basics: Fundamentals drive vaccine performance

At a time when disease pressure continues to challenge pork production systems across the United States, vaccination remains one of the most valuable and heavily debated tools available to veterinarians and producers.

Speaking at the 2025 Four Star Pork Industry Conference in Muncie, Indiana, Dr. Daniel Gascho, veterinarian at Four Star Veterinary Service, encouraged the industry to return to fundamentals in how vaccines are selected, handled and administered across sow farms, gilt development units and grow-finish operations.

Gascho acknowledged at the outset that vaccination can quickly become a technical and sometimes tedious topic. But he said that real-world execution, not complex immunology, is where most vaccine failures occur.