The USDA National Agricultural Statistical Service recently issued the publication Poultry-Production and Value: Summary for 2021. The live production of the top five states amounted to 39,197 million pounds representing 66.2 percent of the U.S. total of 59,248 million pounds. The top six states In descending rank were:-
- North Carolina 8,061 million lbs. up 2.3 percent from 2020
- Georgia 7,923 million lbs. down 2.0 percent and falling from first rank
- Arkansas 7,464 million lbs. up 1.6 percent
- Alabama 6,561 million lbs. down 0.7 percent but unchanged in rank
- Texas 4,734 million lbs. up 2.1 percent
- Mississippi 4,454 million lbs. down 3.4 percent but unchanged in rank
Pennsylvania ranked fourteenth with 1,387 million lbs. was up 10.1 percent followed by 15th ranked Tennessee with 1,133 million lbs. up 9.9 percent.
The three Delmarva states collectively produced 5,224 million lbs. collectively down 4.3 percent from 2020 and representing 8.9 percent of national production equivalent to the “5th-rank” if regarded as a single state.
To avoid disclosure of specific companies, data for ten states was combined into the "other" category comprising 3,725 million lbs. down by 0.8 percent. The production from Nebraska would have been an instructive figure reflecting the output of the Costco/Lincoln Premium Poultry complex.