User:NewJohn/Meat industry

This is a draft: Please feel free to edit and improve on this article! So far there is just a redirect from meat industry to Livestock in the wikipedia. There are similar articles on other industries: Automotive industry, Music industry, Pharmaceutical industry, Meat packing industry, ... NewJohn (talk) 14:23, 23 January 2014 (UTC)

--- The production process of livestock should not be described here but in the article intensive animal farming! ---

The meat industry consists of the companies, organizations and individuals that make money by producing, transporting, processing, retailing, marketing and lobbying products made of meat in an industrial scale.

Intensification
There is an ongoing development towards more efficiency in the meat sector which leads to production at lower production costs. The meat industry increases efficiency in various ways: Farming of animals is increasingly intensified (more animals per stocking, animals are being raised more quickly, waste is reduced), while the number of farmers is declining. Meat producing companies are getting bigger by merging with competitors or by acquiring other firms. There are several big firms on the market which operate globally.

Market shift
The demand for meat in industrialized countries is stagnating on a high level or in some sectors (such as beef in the USA) even declining. The global growth in the meat industry is driven by demand in emerging national economies. China has become the largest consumer of meat globally.

Livestock production
"Eight types of livestock are used in heavy industrial production: cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, turkeys, ducks and rabbits." Meat atlas p. 24

Broiler production
--> main article: Broiler

Pig production
---> main article: Intensive pig farming

Breeding companies
-->Animal breeding

Breeding companies which produce high-yielding breeding lines (e.g. hybrid chickens, hybrid pigs) and dominate research and development of livestock genetics have also been getting bigger by mergers and acquisitions. Especially in the poultry sector markets are dominated by only four global players who control 97 percent of global market for poultry genetics. There are three companies that offer genetics for broilers (hybrid chickens) who have a market share of 95 percent.

meat packing industry
---> main article meat packing industry

Suppliers

 * Soya suppliers

Environmental impact
--> main article: Environmental impact of meat production