2019 has seen some of the larger players in the organic and non-GMO space continue to grow. Earlier in the year, pipeline foods purchased the North American businesses of SunOpta, and this week, Perdue AgriBusiness added another piece to its growing pie. Recall, in November of 2018, Perdue invested $30m in organic grain receiving and storage facility in Baltimore, to meet rising demand for organic feed ingredients.

On August 6^th, Perdue AgriBusiness LLC announced that it had acquired the assets of Hart AgStrong LLC The deal closed August 5^th. The purchase includes two oilseed expeller crushing facilities in Bowersville, Georgia, and Trenton, Kentucky, processing organic and non-GMO soybeans, as well as an organic specialty oil refinery at the Bowersville facility. The facilities produce organic and non-GMO oils sold to food manufacturers and meal for organic and non-GMO animal feeding operations in the southeastern.

Broiler Sales are Solid

Broiler demand is likely the impetus behind Perdue’s continued interest in organic and non-GMO soybean meal. According to the Jacobsen insight, demand for organic chicken is up 5% for the first 7-months of 2019. This comes despite a slight dip in sales in July, which comes off a large run up in June in organic chicken sales. Non-GMO chicken sales saw less of an increase in the first 7-months of 2019 rising 1% year over year compared to the same period in the prior year.