The broiler industry began in the 1930s in the Delmarva Peninsula (the large peninsula on the east coast that is occupied by most of the State of Delaware as well as portions on Maryland and Virginia), as well as in Georgia, Arkansas and New England. These areas had access to feed supplies. Some (e.g., Delmarva) were also located close to major centers of population which provided a large nearby market. The growth of large broiler operations – typical large farms may have four to six houses for the birds, each of which may contain 25,000 birds – has been pronounced. The industry has tended to develop in the southeastern states of the United States because the warmer temperatures there are more favorable to raising poultry and the labor needed to look after the birds is cheaper.

Some turkey production takes place in states where broilers are also important (e.g., North and South Carolina and Arkansas, but there are major centers of production further north. Minnesota, for example, is the leading state for the production of turkeys. Ample feed is available to feed the turkeys. Chickens were grown in Minnesota in the 1920s but turkey farming was later encouraged by local processors who determined that turkey production was more profitable. In this case tradition has played a role in the location of the industry. The same factor applies to other parts of US agriculture, for example, dairying.

We saw previously that dairying is widespread across the upper states of the Midwest and the northeastern part of the United States. Even though dairy farming has expanded in the west in recent years with the creation of some very large dairy farms, the strong tradition of dairy farming in traditional production areas is a powerful force and underpins the continuation of smaller scale dairy farms in other areas.

The final part of the poultry industry – egg production – is widely scattered throughout the country. An important reason for this is that fresh shell eggs (as opposed to processed eggs used in a variety of food products) are fragile, bulky and costly to transport. So there are strong economic reasons to locate egg production close to major markets – in other words close to where egg consumers live. For this reason we see substantial clusters of egg production close to urban areas in California, Florida, New York, and Texas, as well as in other states. So in this case – where consumers are located is a major factor affecting the location of agricultural production.