LOUISVILLE, Ky. — According to the Kentucky Field Office of the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service production value of broilers and eggs in the Commonwealth declined in 2019.
“Broiler value of production declined 16 percent from 2018, caused by lower prices, and to a lesser extent, fewer pounds of chicken produced,” said David Knopf, director of the NASS Kentucky Office. “Broiler production remains Kentucky’s number one agricultural enterprise.”
Kentucky broiler value of production in 2019 was $931 million, down from $1.12 billion in 2018. The pounds produced was 1.92 billion pounds, a decrease of 3 percent from the previous year. The number of head grown declined 1 percent, to 299 million head.
Kentucky egg value of production decreased 20 percent to $127 million, down from $158 million in 2018. Production was 1.48 billion eggs in 2019 compared with 1.43 billion eggs in 2018, a 3 percent increase.
Nationally, the value of broilers produced during 2019 was $28.3 billion, down 11 percent from 2018. The total number of broilers produced in 2019 was 9.18 billion, up 2 percent from 2018. The total amount of live weight broilers produced in 2019 was 58.3 billion pounds, up 3 percent from 2018.
Value of all egg production in 2019 was $7.70 billion, down 28 percent from $10.7 billion in 2018. Egg production totaled 113 billion eggs, up 3 percent from 110 billion eggs produced in 2018.
— USDA, NASS, Kentucky Field Office
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