If chicken processors feel like the rope in a game of tug-of-war, they have good reason. Prices are historically high, but that may not last. Trade disputes are a big unknown for poultry exports. And colder weather in the Northern Hemisphere already is ushering in new outbreaks of HPAI across the globe.

Nan-Dirk Mulder is a senior global specialist for animal protein with RaboResearch in the Netherlands. He also is the author of its quarterly outlook for the poultry industry. Nan-Dirk doesn’t have a crystal ball into exactly what will happen in poultry in 2026, but he has some well-informed predictions, and he shares them in this episode of MeatingPod.

As storied as the history of the meat business is in the United States, the “old ways” are falling by the wayside now. They are being replaced by technology and training. Meanwhile, the meat industry’s workforce also is seeing upheaval. While traditional sources of labor are coming under fire, processors also are having trouble finding a new breed of employee, who can manage the electronics that are filling up the space in the once-humble meat plant.

In this episode of MeatingPod, the editors of Meatingplace engage in a roundtable discussion of these trends, and their implications for processing companies. Joining us today are Tom Johnston, editor in chief, managing editor Peter Ricci, and Chris Moore, our news editor.

The economics of the turkey market are changing. HPAI and other diseases have tightened supplies but prices are down. And decades-long annual sales cycles seem to have been permanently altered by the pandemic’s effects on social gatherings — but ground product isn’t picking up the slack.

As the holiday season, and holiday meals, draw closer on the calendar, Mark Jordan of LEAP Analytics joins MeatingPod to help make sense of this fast-changing market, with an eye on what to expect in 2026.

It seems a time comes when a meatcutter or rancher wants to take their passion for feeding their communities to a new level, and start up a processing plant. Most of them will need the advice and guidance of someone like David Zarling. The food manufacturing and operations consultant, and program manager for the Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network of Oregon State University Extension, has for years led enthusiastic but financially naive meat pros to adopt what he calls a “manufacturing mindset.” Profits are likely to follow.

Zarling spent some time with MeatingPod to discuss that transition, along with the biggest threat to a small processor, how to survive in a time of constant change, and where and when to invest scarce dollars in technology.

In the conversation, Zarling mentions research published by U of Illinois’ Drs. Catherine Isley and Sarah A. Low. That paper can be found here.

Every pound a broiler chick puts on up to market distribution uses a gallon of water. Multiply that by the nearly 10 billion birds produced in the U.S. each year — predominantly in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states — and that’s a small lake’s worth of H2O.

Much of that is the byproduct of processing, and managing that nutrient- and solids-dense water sustainably and economically is a priority for the entire poultry supply chain.

Auburn University’s Brendan Higgins has been studying the options for nearly a decade, and has found that poultry processing water byproducts can be used boost crops — even lettuce, which is especially vulnerable to contamination. Mindful of the fact that every site is unique, he and his team have vetted several options for processors to consider, primarily using technology that’s familiar to the industry and may already be at-hand.

Higgins explains his research and its applications to the industry in this episode of MeatingPod.

Listeners who are interesting in learning more should check out these papers written by Dr. Higgins and his team on the topic they have dubbed "PoultryPonics":

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960852425001932

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301479725005353

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acsestwater.4c00262

Most U.S. companies have stopped talking about their DEI initiatives, corporate social responsibility and sustainability efforts. Nevertheless, sustainability, in particular, remains a vital part of food companies’ relationships with their customers and end consumers. Pursuing greater sustainability and communicating those programs authentically are key steps to fostering consumer trust, and as Nancy Himmelfarb puts it, “trust sells.”

She joins MeatingPod for a wide-ranging discussion of what sustainability means now — to meat companies in particular — and how executives can best drive toward sustainability goals and get credit for doing so from their customers and consumers.

Processors’ efforts to understand and meet the array of 21st century standards for “sustainability” may feel overwhelming, but Colorado State Animal Science Prof. Kim Stackhouse-Lawson boils it down: The foundation of sustainability is simply efficiency — something the entire supply chain has gotten good at. Stackhouse-Lawson, also the director of Colorado State’s AgNext food and ag sustainability research collaborative, joins MeatingPod to discuss the complexities of advancing sustainability in the beef supply chain, the challenge of working with incomplete data, and the politics enveloping the entire concept.

Meat snacks and sticks, particularly in the better-for-you market space, are soaring in popularity, but not all brands are benefitting the same way. Archer has reached aggressively across distribution channels with statistics that not only tell the obvious story — “stock us, we’re better” — but also educates retail buyers on exactly how the meat snack category performs for them vis-a-vis competitors and what they can do to boost their sell-through, as Archer’s Vice President of Marketing Andrew Thomas explains in this episode of MeatingPod. Meanwhile, the data also informs Archer’s new marketing campaign, a tongue-in-cheek look at what it means to be “real.”