Exporting northwest Arkansas excess turkey and broiler litter to partially fertilize nutrient-deficient cropland in eastern Arkansas can be more cost effective than to supply all crop nutrients with chemical fertilizer only, given current high fertilizer prices. Cost savings are greater if litter is baled in ultraviolet resistant plastic and transported via truck, since backhaul opportunities reduce truck rates, or alternatively, if raw litter is shipped via a truck-barge combination. Rice is the crop that allows for greater savings according to a mathematical programming model implemented in General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS).

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The U.S. poultry industry has spent considerable resources to date preparing for an outbreak of avian influenza in this country. This research quantifies the potential effects of two alternative avian influenza scenarios on the poultry industry. In addition, this research looks at effects on other agriculture sectors including the loss of feed demand from an outbreak and the impacts on aggregate measures like farm income and consumer food expenditures. The economic sector model maintained by the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) is employed for these scenarios.

Phosphorus runoff from the land application of poultry litter has become a concern in watersheds in the Ozark Plateau region, prompting local growers to use alternative litter management practices. One option is the export of excess poultry litter from producers in nutrient-surplus watersheds to users located in areas where nutrient loads are not problematic. In 2006, nearly 100,000 tons of broiler and turkey litter was exported by BMPs Inc., a nonprofit corporation providing litter management services. However, breeder hen litter and pullet litter are rarely exported because there are limited outlets for these lower nutrient value litters. Another poultry industry by-product is eggshell waste from egg-breaking operations, most of which is currently landfilled at a cost of $25/ton. Composting was examined as an alternative method to convert litter and eggshell wastes into a marketable soil amendment, making use of the beneficial soil nutrients available in both; 4 blends and 2 production systems were analyzed. Process results indicated that during composting, the observed temperatures of each of the 4 blends were different, but all followed a similar trend throughout the production cycle. Functional group inventory and diversity analysis indicated that all blends fell within optimal ranges of microbial species, except for the ratio of aerobic to anaerobic bacteria; only blend 4 was within the optimal value for this parameter. Diversity values for each blend fell within the moderate diversity range (3 < d < 6.5). Maturity analysis results indicated that no blends were mature at 11 wk (index <50%) and could not safely be used in horticultural applications but could safely be used in field applications. Break-even analyses indicated that compost could be produced at an average cost (across the 4 blends) of $17.48 to $20.09/ton for systems 1 (small-scale) and 2 (large-scale), respectively.

The poultry industry is the most vertically integrated of U.S. agriculture and food production and is rapidly progressing toward being one of the most concentrated. In 2002, the top 15 broiler states accounted for 94.4% of U.S. production. From 1982–2002, the top four broiler firms had a fivefold increase in Ready-to-Cook (R-T-C) pounds, a tripling of plants and four- and eight-firm concentration ratio increases of 27.9% to 48.2% and 44.1% to 66.6%. In a broad sense, chicken became more affordable, appealing, and available; total R-T-C pounds increased from 234 to 663 million pounds between 1982 and 2002.

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The Illinois River Basin in eastern Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas is an example of a region where significant growth in poultry production has been accompanied by water quality problems. The primary concern in the basin is the problem of phosphorus in runoff that is associated with application of litter to crops. Existing data suggest that there has been a continuing decline in the quality of water in the Illinois River, and discussions have focused on developing and implementing a phosphorus standard. The specific objectives of this study are to estimate the reduction in poultry production necessary to achieve the reduction in phosphorus runoff under a set of phosphorus constraints, including soil test phosphorus, and to estimate the opportunity costs of reducing poultry production in the basin under each phosphorus constraint on the economic activity in the watershed. A mathematical programming model that incorporates poultry production and cropping decisions is developed. The parameters for the model are identified and then it is solved to provide a base solution. Model solutions are then developed for the different policy target levels of phosphorus. The model structure is modified to account for the presence of soil test phosphorus levels and the corresponding limits on soil test phosphorus throughout the basin. This formulation includes current soil test phosphorus throughout the basin. All of the applications assume that the only disposal option for poultry litter is land application within the basin. An economic impact assessment of the effects of phosphorus limitations in the basin is also conducted for Arkansas counties only, Oklahoma counties only, and all five affected counties combined.