Feed and the Poultry Industry

Abstract

The cost of feed is by far the most important factor in the competitiveness of a particular country, region, or chicken company. A number of factors including world availability of feedstuffs, local tariff rates, and the success of a hedging program, among others, influence the cost of feed. This chapter will investigate some of the issues related to grain and in particular those issues related to corn since 85% of the world's chickens use corn as their source of energy and corn represents approximately 70% by weight of chicken feed. The second most important ingredient for the world's chicken feed is soybean meal, the most widely used source of protein.