US poultry industry is spending US$2.7 billion on further processing upgrades, report shows

USA – The U.S. poultry sector has directed US$2.7 billion toward processing plant upgrades over the past five years, according to figures shared during the 2025 Chicken Marketing Summit.

CoBank animal protein economist Brian Earnest said the spending has primarily gone into modernizing existing facilities and adding new lines rather than constructing additional plants.

He explained that the trend is driven by consumer demand for chicken products that resemble meals typically eaten in restaurants but prepared at home.

Online search patterns have shown steady interest in poultry, with items such as chicken nuggets maintaining growth in popularity, Earnest added.

Industry shifts

The wave of investment aligns with long-term production changes, particularly in bird size and overall efficiency.

Between 2014 and 2024, U.S. broiler output rose by about 780 million head annually, producing an extra 8.8 billion pounds of chicken each year.

Average live weights also climbed during this period, with birds gaining roughly half a pound on average in the past decade.

Earnest noted that birds weighing more than 7.75 pounds now account for 29 percent of weekly production, up from eight percent in 2006.

At the same time, the share of birds in the 4.26 to 6.25 pound range has declined from 50 percent to 29 percent of output.

He pointed out that advancements in genetics, which have been underway since the 1990s, have been key to enabling the industry to produce larger birds.

Processing constraints

While gains in efficiency have been significant, Earnest said that poultry plants continue to operate within regulatory limits on processing line speeds.

In the United States, line speeds are capped at 140 birds per minute, although some facilities have received waivers to operate at up to 175 birds per minute.

He emphasized that these restrictions remain an important factor in shaping how companies choose to allocate their processing investments.

The combination of evolving consumer demand, larger bird sizes, and regulatory limits is therefore defining how the sector directs its capital toward further-processed poultry products.

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