By Heather McGuire Doyle, Senior Market Reporter (North America)
Soybean meal inclusion in US broiler diets has increased by 8% from 2020 to 2024, while the use of distillers dried grains (DDG) and fats and oils has declined, according to Lara Moody, Executive Director of the Institute for Feed Education and Research (IFEEDER). She shared these insights during the 2024 International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE), sharing a preview of the latest data in IFEEDER’s upcoming Feed Ingredient and Pet Food Consumption reports.
The rise in soybean meal usage is largely driven by lower prices, a result of increased domestic production. This surge in production is tied to the growing demand for soybean oil in biofuel manufacturing. The USDA projects that 14 billion pounds of soybean oil will be used for biofuel production in 2024–2025, up from 13 billion pounds in 2023–2024.
With biofuel demand reshaping ingredient markets, IFEEDER’s data highlights a significant shift in feed formulation strategies.
The livestock and poultry feed report relies on USDA Ag Census data, live animal production numbers, and nutritional requirement modeling to assess ingredient consumption trends.
Key findings include:
Iowa leads the nation in feed consumption, followed by Texas.
Corn remains the primary feed ingredient: It constitutes nearly 70% of feed ingredients, with total corn-related products nearing 200 million tonnes.
Vitamin and mineral consumption were up by 1.9% compared to 2020 data.
Amino acid usage increased by 1.8% compared to 2020 data.
Distiller dried grains (DDG) usage declined, likely due to the increased availability of soybean meal from expanding soy crush facilities driven by the biofuel industry.
Fats and oils usage dropped by 27%, potentially linked to higher soybean oil prices as more is diverted to biofuel production.
