2002 J.W. Fanning Lecture
Every time someone eats a chicken breast, it compounds the biggest problem that the U.S. poultry industry faces. That's because the U.S. poultry market has more dark meat than it knows what to do with, said Eric Joiner, President, COO and Co-Founder of AJC International, one of the largest food distribution services in the world.
"The U.S. is such a white meat market," Joiner said. "That is one of the reasons the U.S. (broiler poultry) market has such problems."Joiner was the featured speaker at the 18th annual J.W. Fanning Lecture, Dec. 11 at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education on the University of Georgia campus in Athens. The former chairman of the U.S. Poultry and Egg Export Council and current member of its board of directors, Joiner is one of the world's authorities on U.S. poultry exports.
In a lecture entitled "Dynamics of the Global Poultry Market," Joiner delineated three major challenges the poultry industry faces today.
Compounding the difficulty of exporting dark meat chicken is the fact that the U.S. market demands large chicken breasts, he said. Large chicken breasts mean large leg quarters, which are not appealing in the Asian markets that have a demand for dark meat chicken.
"The industry has to move over 6 billion large leg quarters this year," Joiner said. "The export market can't take it."
The second major challenge Joiner outlined for the poultry industry is competition from Brazil. Brazil is second only to the United States in worldwide broiler production.
"(Brazil) is blowing the doors off (poultry) production," he said. "They have an incredible ability to grow and harvest soybeans (a chief component in chicken feed). And their plants are first-class. Brazil's exports grew by 38 percent in 2001."
While he said he expects Brazil's export growth rate to eventually level out, because of lower labor costs and high production standards, Brazil poses a substantial threat to U.S. poultry producers.
''If Brazil is limited at all, it is only in market access,'' Joiner said.
The third problem Joiner outlined was market access. Making current markets more accessible and opening up new markets is crucial to the growth of the industry, he said. ''This is why everyone was so interested in Cuba opening its markets.''After outlining the problems facing the poultry industry, Joiner ticked off possible solutions, each of which involved bracing challenges:
"The U.S. could cut production, although that is very hard to do. We need to develop more dark meat products for the domestic market. We need to push hard to open up new markets and aggressively fund the industry fight for market access. We need to take food safety issues seriously and find a way to compete with the Brazilian labor market."
"The picture isn't pretty," Joiner said in conclusion, "but now you know what it looks like."
While the picture is grim for the industry, it is ripe for study, said Glenn Ames, an agricultural economist at UGA who specializes in the poultry industry.
"Mr. Joiner has provided us with a tremendous menu of topics for further work and study here at UGA," he said. "These are topics that are vital for Georgia's economy."
Georgia is the top-producing broiler poultry state in the country and economists estimate the total economic impact of poultry in the state to be over $13 billion annually.
A luncheon and awards ceremony followed Joiner's lecture. Gaylord Coan, who retired in 2001 as CEO and Chairman of the Management Executive Committee of Gold Kist Inc., was presented with the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Alumni Associaton 2002 Award of Excellence.
"One cold December day in 1957, Sandra and I came to Athens to find an apartment and get her a job. I talked to J.W. Fanning about getting into the College of Agriculture and I had no idea where it would lead. I am very appreciative to UGA for what it has meant in our lives," Coan said, upon receiving his award.
Two students in the department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Carol Spruill and Swagata Banerjee, were recognized for their induction into "Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges."
The J.W. Fanning Lecture Series is sponsored by the Agricultural Economics Association of Georgia, the departments of Agricultural & Applied Economics and Poultry Science at UGA and the Office of International Public Service and Outreach at UGA.
The lecture series is named for Dr. J.W. Fanning, former Vice President for Services and professor of Agricultural Economics at UGA, who was instrumental in developing public service and outreach at UGA.
Writer: Cat Holmes (706) 542-8960
<clholmes@arches.uga.edu>Eric Joiner's Slide Show