Why is chicken so cheap? | The Economist

Driven by the 1940s "Chicken of Tomorrow" competition, the global poultry industry now sustains a population of 23 billion birds through intensive genetic breeding that compresses broiler lifespans to 38 days. Consultant David Speller exemplifies this scale by managing millions of genetically uniform chickens with automated environmental controls, prioritizing rapid growth over natural maturity to meet high-volume, low-cost consumer demand. While organic and free-range systems offer significantly longer lifespans and better welfare conditions, their higher production costs and lower turnover rates keep them marginal compared to the dominant industrial model.