Australian chicken for dinner outpacing red meat

THE humble and hearty roast beef dinner has fallen out of favour, with chicken expected to double Australian beef sales by 2020.

Farmer Phil Lally and his daughter, Zara on their Clare Valley property with some of their chickens. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

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CHICKEN is strutting to the top of the proteins, and expected to double Australian beef sales by 2020.

While Aussie beef remains in high demand overseas, at home the popularity of the budget-friendly chook makes us the world’s third-largest consumer of the poultry, after Malaysia and Jamaica.

The rising status of chicken contrasts vividly with the falling and static local production of drought-affected beef, lamb and mutton, according to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES).

Figures show pork production is also rising to meet demand, because the bulk of other meats are exported out of reach.

And the trend is reportedly here to stay. ABARES predicts there will be no relief on beef prices in the near future and says that, in effect, the rise in poultry production is, in turn, helping to keep chicken prices low.

Producers understand why cheaper chicken has become a better fit for family budgets, but Clare Valley farmers Phil and Michele Lally believe the ongoing challenge is to “buy right”.

“For the past 20 years we have been supposedly blessed with cheap protein options but now, that system is getting more expensive,” said Ms Lally of Savannah Farm.

The pair have seen a rise in demand for pasture-raised chickens, arguably still good value against red meat.

They agree with the reasoning that rising exports and drought are behind the shift, but believe the switch in protein preferences is also part of broader shake-up in food demand.

“People are more and more conscious of buying from trusted sources,” said Ms Lally, whose lamb farm has diversified in recent years, adding ethical super-plump chicken, Berkshire pork and small heritage beef.

“The price of beef is getting higher because of the impact of drought but also because it is continuing to be sent overseas. This does make pork and chicken a more affordable option,” she said, maintaining that we can all still afford any protein if we “think about priorities, especially our health”.

“We are seeing more people taking care in what they buy, choosing smaller amounts, buying direct from farmers, seasonally and in bulk.”

ABARES says we will be eating almost 50kg of chicken per person a year by 2020. In the early 1950s it was only a few kilograms per person.

Data shows beef consumption will have more than halved from 59.7kg per person in 1950-1951 to just 25.7kg per person by 2020.

The demand for lamb is expected to remain steady at 9.2kg per person, with mutton at just 500g. Pork is expected to be 28.3kg per person by 2020.