The federal government has tightened its standards for what constitutes a concentrated industry and this may lead to even greater scrutiny of future mergers and acquisitions.
Two U.S. broiler processing firms were acquired in 2025. Harrison Foods was acquired by Wayne-Sanderson Farms and Miller Poultry acquired Gerber's Poultry. These acquisitions reduced the number of firms in WATT's Top Broiler Company rankings to 29, but they had little impact on the level of concentration in the U.S. broiler industry.
The U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission use the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (HHI) to measure the level of concentration in an industry. The HHI is calculated by squaring the market share of each firm competing in the market and then summing the resulting numbers. The HHI factors in the relative size distribution of the firms in a market. It approaches zero when a market is occupied by many firms of relatively equal size and reaches its maximum of 10,000 points when a market is controlled by a single firm. The HHI increases as the number of firms in the market decreases and as the disparity in size between those firms increases.
Using annual Top Broiler Company Survey data for weekly ready-to-cook pounds produced, the HHI for the U.S. broiler industry was calculated from 1990 to 2025. The HHI ranged from a low of 596 in 1994 to a high of 1,217 in 2006. The HHI for the U.S. broiler industry increased from 1,093 in 2024 to 1,156 in 2025, largely because of Tyson's increase of 30.26 million ready-to-cook pounds per week in 2025 over 2024 production.
U.S. agencies changed the guidelines for the HHI score that signifies whether an industry is concentrated in 2024. Generally, markets in which the HHI is between 1,000 and 1,800 points are considered to be moderately concentrated and markets in which the HHI is more than 1,800 points are considered to be highly concentrated. Transactions that increase the HHI by more than 100 points in highly concentrated markets are presumed likely to enhance market power under the Horizontal Merger Guidelines issued by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission.
How concentrated is the U.S. turkey industry?
Two turkey slaughter plants ceased operations in 2025. The Cargill facility in Springdale, Arkansas, ceased operations and was purchased by Tyson and will be used for further processing chicken. The Foster Farms plant in Turlock, California, closed and has been purchased by Diestel Family Ranch. Diestel has announced plans to produce raw further processed turkey products at the plant.
Annual slaughter volume data from WATT PoultryUSA's annual Top Turkey Company Survey was used to calculate the HHI for the U.S. turkey industry from 1994 to 2025. The HHI ranged from a low of 675 in 1997 to a high of 1,218 in 2009. The HHI for the U.S. turkey industry is 930 for 2025; it was 883 in 2024.
Cargill's California, Missouri, complex was acquired by Pitman Farms in January 2026. It is expected that Cargill's Dayton, Virginia, complex will be acquired by Pitman Farms in March 2026. If these operations and others in the industry continue to produce at current levels, the HHI would increase to approximately 970 in 2026.
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