Poultry and Eggs (not classified elsewhere)

SIC 0259
POULTRY AND EGGS, NOT ELSEWHERE CLASSIFIED

This category includes establishments primarily engaged in the production of poultry and eggs, not elsewhere

classified. This industry also includes establishments deriving 50 percent or more of their total value of sales of agricultural products from poultry and eggs (Industry Group 025), but less than 50 percent from products of any single industry.

NAICS Code(s)

112390 (Other Poultry Production)

Included in this industry are businesses engaged in operating duck farms, geese farms, pheasant and pigeon farms, quail and squab farms, and poultry egg farms, except chicken and turkey eggs. Although accounting for only a small percentage of overall poultry and poultry egg sales, the geese, pheasant, pigeon, and other birds farmed in this industry benefited from brisk sales throughout the mid-1990s, as consumers' taste shifted from red to white meat. Consumption, however, flattened toward the end of the decade and remain stagnant throughout the early 2000s.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Americans consumed roughly one-third a pound of duck in 2003, compared to nearly half a pound in 1986. Goose consumption was even less. Between 2002 and 2003, the number of ducks slaughtered under federal inspection increased from 23.9 million birds to 24.3 million birds; however, this number remained lower than the 2001 figure of 26.2 million birds. In terms of live weight, between 2002 and 2003 the amount of ducks slaughtered grew from 160.3 million pounds to 160.8 million pounds, a figure that accounted for less than one percent of poultry industry activity in 2003 and remained lower than the 173 million pounds of duck slaughtered in 2001. Between 2002 and 2003, the live weight of other poultry slaughtered fell from 12.6 million pounds to 9.9 million pounds.

In the early 2000s, the majority of poultry farms in this category were small-scale operations employing less than five people and earning less than $250,000 per annum. More than 75 percent of the businesses in this group employed zero to four workers.