Automation, market shifts drive broiler industry’s future

Elizabeth Doughman, editor, WATT PoultryUSA and Poultry Future, and Brian Earnest, animal protein economist at CoBank, discuss how changing consumer behaviors fuel genetic, AI, automation and other emerging innovations in the broiler industry.

Listen to the podcast here.

Elizabeth Doughman, editor, WATT PoultryUSA and Poultry Future: Hello, I’m Elizabeth Doughman, the editor of WATT PoultryUSA and Poultry Future. In today’s episode, my guest is Brian Earnest, animal protein economist at CoBank.

Brian is one of our featured speakers at the 2025 Chicken Marketing Summit, scheduled for July 28-30 at the DeSoto Savannah in Savannah, Georgia. This one-of-a-kind event explores issues and trends in food marketing and consumer chicken consumption patterns and purchasing behavior.

Registration is now open at ChickenMarketingSummit.com and I’d like to encourage everyone to attend.

Thanks for joining me today, Brian.

What are the key factors that have driven the adoption of technology in the broiler industry over the years, and why is it considered essential for long-term success?

Brian Earnest, animal protein economist, CoBank: If we break it down to the simple things that folks aren't always thinking about on the meat or poultry side of the business from a production standpoint, looking back to vertical integration, this is one of those key elements I think that makes the broiler industry not necessarily unique, but maybe allows the industry to be more innovative in terms of the structure when we think about things like feed production, genetics and even, like, the end product that is delivered to the table at the end of the day. All of these, I think, are facilitated by that vertical integration. And what I mean by that is that the processor utilizes a network of growers, but they provide the chicks, the feed and really kind of utilize that system in terms of the production to help them become efficient.

Doughman: When we look at all of the protein segments, how would you characterize the broiler industry’s interest in implementing new processing technology compared to other sectors and why?

Earnest: Well, this is really interesting thing that I've kind of taken an interest in over the last couple years. AT the major conference of the year for the production of chicken, the International Production and Processing Expo (IPPE), you get to see all the new technology that's coming out and some of those innovations that are utilized throughout the processing sector.

I think the vision there for the industry in general is to continue to address the needs of both the consumer, but also to evolve their own production methods. This is one of those things that we see in implementation. Over the last 10 years, we've seen build out of new greenfield plants in the United States.

But in more recent years, probably the last four years, we've seen higher capital costs, interest rates, higher labor and tighter labor availability. All of these things play into somewhat of a pause in terms of building out new processing capacity. And instead, the focus seems to be kind of, you know, how do we work within the plants instead in putting in new technology around the processing equipment, or even further processing and where is the focus there?

I think a lot of the focus in recent years has been with tighter labor supplies. How are we able to, as an industry, look at replacing some of that labor with processing equipment, and so there's been a big focus there, I think, as well.

When you look at the birds that are coming through the system, the industry has added about a pound overall on average over the last eight years. So, these birds that are coming through the system are bigger, but the consumer may not necessarily be looking for bigger portions.

Trying to figure out how to accommodate the portion size requirements of the consumer and utilizing processing equipment and direct stream injection (DSI) technology, that sort of thing, is something that I think is fascinating and being implemented, implemented at more and more plants.

Doughman: What are some of the technological advancements specifically aimed at improving efficiency in broiler processing plants, and how have these helped to scale production to meet larger bird sizes?

Earnest: I think one of those I just mentioned thinking about, like a DSI cutter, for instance. Something that takes a large format bird size and is able to portion it in one way or another, that breast meat in particular, off the bird into a size format that fits more uniformly with the consumer and what their desires are, but also to specifications along the system.

If you're if you're looking at a natural fall item, right, or a breast piece that's coming off of the bird that you don't do any further process to it or any work to it, it's not always going to come out the same size, but you know what the specifications on the packaging are to meet those requirements may be, so it enables you to get over that hurdle. You know, the industry is making a bigger piece and then kind of sizing it down to the specifications that either the retailer or foodservice entity is looking for, or might fit well in a requirement of, you know a specific good or a specific size.

I think that scaling provides two things. It gets us that portion size that the industry is looking for, you're also going to have trim. And one of those things that I think is interesting in the marketplace is that wings, for instance, have become very popular over the last two decades with the consumer, but there's really only two wings or four portions coming off the bird that are typically utilized. And so, although the birds are growing bigger, you're still only getting two wings, right? To combat this, or to kind of try and accommodate that stronger demand around wings, the industry is taking a look at boneless wings, which are actually breast meat, that is formed in one way or another, to still kind of adopt that flavor profile that the consumer is looking for on the traditional bone in wings.

Doughman: In terms of consumer products, how are innovations in technology helping companies meet the demand for more value-added products like ready-to-eat meals or pre-marinated chicken?

Earnest: Value added is an interesting segment. I started my career in the retail side of the business about 15 years ago. At that time, retailers were just kind of looking at how do they position chicken in front of the consumer in new ways. One of those was bringing the traditional chicken tenders to a format that the consumer could get, not only at restaurants, but also take and bake, you know, and it's in a par fried format or fully cooked format.

That segment has really evolved over the last 15 years, and now we're seeing things like kitchen appliances that are making these items easier to cook for consumers. For instance, I reference every once a while that air fryers have become very popular with the consumer, and they can bring that kind of restaurant-type format for these breaded or par fried items and value added products into the kitchen at home, and really bring that kind of the taste, the flavor, the bite, a lot of the same profile that you're getting at the restaurant, they can bring that home.

Air fryers are very popular with the consumer, to the degree that I read one article that said there's more air fryers in kitchens in the United States than there are coffee makers. So this is certainly something that the chicken industry has is seeing and innovating towards to provide instructions on the packaging, even around air fryers.

Doughman: Looking ahead, what role do you think automation, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies will play in shaping the future of broiler processing, and what impact could these have on the industry's growth and sustainability?

Earnest: When I when I think about the word sustainability, I commonly refer to efficiencies in the system. So certainly, things like automation and artificial intelligence, you know these are new, new pieces of technology that the that various different industries are utilizing in a way that helps them become more precise, if they can.

There's ways that the broiler industry can use this in being more precise, but it may not always be beneficial. When birds are coming to the processing plant, you're trying to hit a target, but you may encounter weather – snowstorms or heat of the summer – all these things kind of play into a bird that may not fit the size of the box that you're you know you're necessarily targeting if you're a processor.

I think maybe in helping to anticipate those sorts of things, adopting this technology brings the industry ahead, and there's still some room to kind of scare out more efficiencies in the system through utilizing that sort of technology.

But I think even up further up the supply stream thinking about genetics and how that plays a role, and also on the feed side of the business, how veterinarians and dieticians are looking at the impact of, say, potentially a different feed additive or something like that. Overall, I think these pieces of technology just continue to advance the strong work that the industry has already done in being efficient overall.

Doughman: Since we’re looking forward to the Chicken Marketing Summit, which is all about chicken consumption, I have to ask what is your favorite chicken dish to eat?

Earnest: I actually don't know that I have a favorite, although barbecue chicken is kind of my favorite to cook and work with. And so I'll refer to my boys, we use a lot of chicken in the in the kitchen, and they have recently become attracted to drumsticks for some reason. I don't know if it's just they get to something to hang on to or what, but that's an item that has become commonplace in the Earnest household.

Doughman: As we’re winding up today, is there anything else you would like to add before we conclude?

Earnest: I'm excited for the future. I've been alongside the industry for 15 years and I've seen a lot of developments take place in the broiler space. It's a lot to keep up with as an analyst to try and day in and day out see what's going on there, but it's seems like no shortage of surprises when I take a deep dive, and I always feel like I learned something from listening to my peers in the industry and folks in other spaces, like the animal health space and other areas.

Overall, I’m looking forward to the Chicken Marketing Summit this year and the other events that help folks in the industry with the knowledge that they need, and equipping them with the tools they need to continue to work on an innovative future.

Doughman: Thanks again, Brian, and thanks to you for tuning in.

To hear more of Brian’s insights and learn more about the consumer behavior and trends impacting today’s chicken consumption, register to attend by visiting ChickenMarketingSummit.com, on July 28-30 at the DeSoto Savannah in Savannah, Georgia.