2120 final report.pdf - Agra CEAS Consulting

APPENDIX 2: THIRD COUNTRIESLooking to the future the USDA projects that, compared to an average annual rate of growth inoutput of 2.7% in the last expansion, a rate of growth about half that level is likely over the next fouryears.A2.4.2. Egg productionEgg production in the U.S. is geographically dispersed, though it is increasingly moving toward theMidwest. For nearly 40 years, until 1998, California was the nation’s leading egg producer. In thatyear the lead shifted first to Ohio and then, three years later, to Iowa where it remains today. In aperiod of 15 years, from 1988 to 2003, Iowa has gone from a stock of 8 million laying hens to 40million. The major deficit and surplus egg producing states are as follows:Table A2.33: Leading egg producing States and the number of laying hens in flocks withmore than 30,000 birds 2004Deficit MarketsNew YorkCaliforniaIllinoisTexasSource: USDA, NASS, Chickens and Eggs, February 2004.IowaOhioIndianaPennsylvaniaNebraskaMinnesotaSurplus MarketsThe U.S. egg industry, like those in many other countries around the world, has undergoneenormous structural change over the past four or five decades. Egg production in the U.S. has gonefrom a small-scale, barnyard operation where in 1959 more than 1.1 million farmers (30% of thetotal) produced eggs for sale to the present day where the 260 largest egg producing firms accountfor an estimated 95% of all layers (see Table A2.34 and Table A2.35).Table A2.34: Number of U.S. farms with egg sales 1959 – 1997YearNumber of farms1959 1,114,5961964 526,5301974 304,8231978 308,8521992 12,2921997 9,794Source: USDA, ERS and NASS.364