Where Does Your Chicken Come From?
posted on
August 19, 2021
You may have read about the newly announced sale of Sanderson Farms, the 3rd largest poultry producer in the US.
If not, here is the link for more info.
Those are some astounding numbers they are talking. Last year they processed over 4.8 billion pounds of chicken.
That's a lot of chicken. I don't care how you figure it, that's a lot of chicken.
It shouldn't be surprising though, given the fact that chicken is the go to meat for most Americans.
Did you know that the estimated per capita consumption of poultry in 2020 was 97.6 lbs.? Compare that to a mere 28 lbs. of chicken consumed in 1960.
Another interesting change in consumer behavior is the drop in red meat consumption. In 1960, red meat (beef, pork) consumed per person was 133 lbs. 2020 came in at 111.8
Where am I going with all this? I'm not sure myself.
I'm not a Doctor and I'm not a scientist but could it be that consuming that much chicken, especially chicken raised the way CAFO chicken is raised and fed, isn't good for us?
Help me out.
Here's the problem. A rather BIG problem.
We want cheap food.
At New Grass Farms, this is our second year raising pasture-raised, Non-GMO fed broilers. It's been a fun learning experience.
I'll admit that sometimes I cringe when someone asks how much our chicken costs.
Especially when compared to what you can buy it in the grocery store for.
Is our chicken better than what you get in the grocery store? Absolutely! No questions in my mind about that.
Raising chickens out on pasture where they can eat grass, scratch around in the dirt and have fresh air to breath DOES make a difference.
The problem is we are on such a small scale that we can't even begin to compete on price with the big players like the above mentioned Sanderson Farms.
There's no getting around it: they are extremely efficient and can produce a lot of cheap meat....
Ok, pardon me for the long ramble again today. I try to keep these newsletters fairly short and sweet and to the point but sometimes I get carried away.
Our next batch of broilers will be ready to process in about 5 weeks.
Have a great day,
Craig
