U.S. livestock production has shifted to much larger and more specialized farms, and the
various stages of input provision, farm production, and processing are now much more
tightly coordinated through formal contracts and shared ownership of assets. Important
fi nancial advantages have driven these structural changes, which in turn have boosted
productivity growth in the livestock sector. But structural changes can also generate
environmental and health risks for society, as industrialization concentrates animals and
animal wastes in localized areas. This report relies on farm-level data to detail the nature,
causes, and effects of structural changes in livestock production.
