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More than demand driving Super Bowl chicken wing price increase this year

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1:08 pm

More than demand driving Super Bowl chicken wing price increase this year

By John Lovett
University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station

The nearly 1.5 billion chicken wings fans are expected to consume during Sunday’s Super Bowl watch parties will cost more this year, and it is more than just the demand driving the increase.

Jada Thompson, an associate professor in the agricultural economics and agribusiness department for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said the national composite chicken price is up 5 percent year-over-year for December, but for whole wings it is up 19 percent.

“Likely, these are higher because of the holiday demand and strong market for these products,” Thompson said of the chicken wings. “In terms of what is driving these prices, we can relate a lot to Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza.”

The total number of chickens harvested in December was down 4 percent year-over-year, and while some of the dip was compensated by bigger birds, each chicken still only has two wings and two drumettes, she noted.

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, or HPAI, impacted some broiler production with a loss of 5.6 million broiler chickens last year. It was the largest number of affected broilers in a given year since the outbreak started in 2022, she said. An additional 1.6 million broilers were lost this year by the end of January.

HPAI is also affecting the breeding side of the industry, with a 4 percent drop in broilers coming into the system, she added. There have been at least 65,000 breeder birds lost to HPAI this year and 127,000 were lost in the final three months of 2024.

“Broiler eggs in incubators are up, so the industry is trying to compensate for lower supplies,” Thompson said. “Work continues to improve biosecurity, develop vaccines and other control plans.”

Wing demand up

According to the National Chicken Council’s annual Chicken Wing Report, Americans are projected to eat 1.47 billion chicken wings watching the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX on Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s about 20 million more wings than last year’s game.

The increase in chicken wing sales is directly tied to American football and beer sales, the council adds.

“Cooking the whole bird was trendy in the 1960s and 1970s, but in the 1980s, U.S. consumers started preferring boneless-skinless breast meat, and wings became an inexpensive byproduct for chicken producers,” a National Chicken Council news release explained. “Restaurants and bars realized they could charge low prices for the relatively inexpensive protein, and due to the spicy/salty nature of the sauce, they discovered that beer sales would go through the roof when customers ate wings.”

Thompson conducts research for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the Division of Agriculture’s research arm. She also teaches classes for the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences.

In addition to her work analyzing poultry meat prices, Thompson also recently collaborated on a study exploring the effects of HPAI on U.S. egg prices. The work, published last year in the journal Food Policy, was titled “Biological lags and market dynamics in vertically coordinated food supply chains: HPAI impacts on U.S. egg prices.” Her collaborators included corresponding author James Mitchell, assistant professor and extension economist in the agricultural economics and agribusiness department, and Trey Malone with the department of agricultural economics at Purdue University.

To learn more about the Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website. Follow us on X at @ArkAgResearch, subscribe to the Food, Farms and Forests podcast and sign up for our monthly newsletter, the Arkansas Agricultural Research Report. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit uada.edu. Follow us on X at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit uaex.uada.edu.

About the Division of Agriculture

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.

The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on three system campuses.

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

Nominations Now Open For MHS Wall of Fame

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Adam Hecox

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2:29 pm

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Nominations Now Open For MHS Wall of Fame

According to an announcement by the directors of the Mansfield High School Tiger Wall of Fame, the process for expanding the exclusive club membership has already begun. Nominations for induction are now open. With it, plans are moving forward to have the WOF Class of 2025 ready for selection by this summer followed by a forthcoming fall induction event.

Nominations for potential inclusion onto this year’s memorial wall are now being accepted until June 30. Written nominations using a copy of the designated nomination form should be sent to the Mansfield Administrative Building in care of the administrative secretary. Completed forms may also be submitted electronically using a fillable document provided on the Mansfield Public School’s website.

From their homepage at “mansfieldtigers.org”, click the “community” tab and select “Mansfield Wall of Fame” from the drop down menu. There for your convenience you’ll find a first line selection offering a fillable nomination form that can be submitted electronically. The third line selection offers access to a pdf copy of the nomination form which can be printed and completed in writing. In between, a second line click offers a list of past inductees.

Official nominations will go through a screening process to verify accuracy and eligibility. The WOF Board, made up of community volunteers with a unique and tangible knowledge of Mansfield history, will compare the list of qualifying candidates and then select by vote this year’s class of inductees.

WOF membership consideration shall be given to individuals or teams that meet criteria established by the directors of the program. Notable benchmarks looked upon as a premium include individual or team state championships, state or national recognition, diverse and district recognition, varsity and civic recognition, and scholastic or benefactress contributions. Any candidate regarded as being in good standing that meets one or more of the recommended criteria may be nominated at any time. Exceptions exist for Mansfield graduates. A waiting period of five years from the date of their high school graduation is required of a MHS alumnus before they can become eligible for admission.

Recently revised by-laws drafted by the WOF Board of Directors and its officers have included a stated preamble and purpose for the organization. Simplified, the operation’s preamble defines the Wall of Fame as a memorial to the outstanding students who through their athletic endeavors and achievements and/or other individuals whose endeavors or achievements have brought honor to themselves, the school, or community. The abridged purpose of the WOF is to acknowledge individuals who have brought honor to MHS, to establish a motivating influence, and to foster community pride.

Phelps Repeats As K-12 Culinary Connection/MHS Student Chef Showdown Champion

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Tammy Teague

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3:56 pm

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Phelps Repeats As K-12 Culinary Connection/MHS Student Chef Showdown Champion

By Jonathan W. Gipson
MAGAZINE SCHOOLS MEDIA RELATIONS

MAGAZINE – Magazine senior James Phelps successfully defended his title of K-12 Culinary Connection/Magazine High School Student Chef Showdown Champion on Friday afternoon at the Magazine High School cafeteria.

Phelps edged fellow MHS student Gracelyn Jones to win his second title in a row and put himself in contention for a spot in the eighth annual K-12 Student Chef Showdown overall competition later this spring. His winning dish was a Fried Jicama Pulled Pork Tostada with Blueberry Sauce.

It was the second MHS competition. Phelps won the inaugural competition last year with his Orange Honey Sriracha Chicken Gyros with Sweet Pea Hummus dish. He advanced to the overall competition and was among six student chefs around the state to reach the final round of the competition. Phelps finished fifth overall with an impressive 45/50 score, receiving a Kitchenaid food processor among other items.

Egg prices: What goes up usually comes down

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Tammy Teague

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3:53 pm

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Egg prices: What goes up usually comes down

By Mary Hightower
U of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture

That omelet is costing more again thanks to highly pathogenic avian influenza, but Jada Thompson says the egg price rollercoaster has a downhill side too.

According to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, since February 2022, HPAI has been detected in more than 1,400 flocks affecting 149.96 million birds. From Jan. 1-30 of this year, more than 19.63 million birds have been affected including 71 commercial flocks and 43 backyard flocks. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, or APHIS, is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“The same similar thing happened at the end of 2022 and into 2023,” said Thompson, associate professor and poultry economist with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

“What you have is very tight supply,” she said. “We were down about 3 percent in egg layer supply at the time and we’re down about 3 percent in supply right now.”

The number of egg crates in the grocery stores is also affected by a tiny bit of “just-in-case” buying by consumers.

“We see the egg prices, and then consumers are responding,” Thompson said. “There’s a bit of people buying all the eggs because they’re concerned about the availability”

Flu cycles

While the season for bird flu cycles with spring and fall wildfowl migrations, the rhythm of the egg cycle has its own complexities. Thompson said the retail cycle moves with the holidays when consumers tend to buy more eggs. And then there’s the biology.

“The high demand tends to coincide with periods of the year where egg laying kind of drops off a little, due to it being colder and the amount of light changes. There are hormonal effects to egg laying,” she said. “Then in summer, the bird flu starts ebbing and then it picks up in the fall.”

When bird flu is detected, the flocks need to be depopulated because the current strain of the disease has such a high mortality rate. Whether it’s turkeys, broilers or egg layers, it takes time to replace the birds — “there’s also kind of a bit of a biological lag in that price recovery system and for the supply chain.”

Looking back at 2023, as spring moved on, “we didn’t have as many cases of bird flu. We didn’t have as many birds out of the system, and so prices kind of recovered, and those stories fall away, and we don’t think about it,” Thompson said.

However, 2024 is reminding consumers of what was forgotten in the summer of 2023.

“We started seeing a bit more of an uptick. We saw a little bit more shocks to the market,” she said.

For comparison:

In 2022, 43 million table egg layers were affected by HPAI
In 2023 12 million layers were affected
In 2024, 38 million layers were affected.

“Right now? We’re already at 13 million in 2025,” Thompson said.

However, Thompson expects the supply will recover.

“Our food supply is healthy, our egg supply is healthy,” Thompson said. “I can tell you that the eggs are coming back on the market.”

Dairy and poultry

Another part of the avian influenza story is the dairy industry.

“There’s a linkage between the dairy industry and the poultry industry, and it’s probably the closest linkage we’re ever going to see right now,” Thompson said. “And it’s that dairy cows are susceptible to bird flu, and it reduces production.

“You can see milk prices starting to go up a little bit,” she said. “When the cows are sick, they producers have to dump the milk and that’s reducing some production levels.”

Affected dairy cows are isolated or segregated from the herd and owners are advised to contact their herd veterinarian for additional procedures, sampling, and confirmatory testing. It has been reported that on average, animals have been reported to recover within 30-45 days.

According to APHIS, 16 states reported dairy cow infections in January. The Food and Drug Administration says on its site that “pasteurization and diversion or destruction of abnormal milk are two important measures that are part of the federal-state milk safety system.

“Even if the virus is detected in raw milk, the current pasteurization process, HTST or high temperature, short time, will inactivate the virus,” according to the FDA’s site.

To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk.

About the Division of Agriculture

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.

The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on three campuses.

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs to all eligible persons without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

Arrest Reports 1/26

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Tammy Teague

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12:52 pm

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FTO Challenges Fire Fighters: ‘Train Like Your Life Depends on It… Because it Does’

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Tammy Teague

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2:51 pm

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FTO Challenges Fire Fighters: ‘Train Like Your Life Depends on It… Because it Does’

Countywide fire training was held in Hackett over the weekend, with longtime veteran fire instructor Todd Johnson at the helm. Twenty-two volunteers represented the following departments: Greenwood Rural (2), EMP (2), White Bluff (2), Sugarloaf (5), Bonanza (2), Mansfield (1), and Hackett (8).

The introduction to fire/safety and personal protective equipment are two of three basic and required courses by the Arkansas Fire Academy. Johnson spent the first portion of each course presenting informational content and the second half working hands-on. From head to toe, Johnson made sure each firefighter had a working understanding of their gear and its purpose. “We need to make sure we go back to the basics, routinely,” stated Johnson.

After learning to properly suit up, each firefighter repetitively practiced until they could complete the task in under a minute. Standouts competed against each other, and in the end, two young men, one from Hackett and another from Greenwood Rural, suited up in less than 45 seconds.

Next came the SCBAs, Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus. “Look around at each other,” instructed Johnson. “To a child, you look unrecognizable and scary. That is why it’s important to go to schools and educate.”

The seasoned instructor encouraged his students to implement buddy checks with fellow firemen when training together as a department. “Also know that your mutual aid department may have different equipment so it’s good to learn from them as well.”

Johnson would go on to issue a challenge to all fire chiefs in the surrounding area: “That they spend time on their meeting nights doing gear drills.”

Before concluding the class, Johnson demonstrated the SWIM method and led volunteers through a training course that simulated a second-story building. “Train like your life depends on it, because it does.”

Resident Press (Scott & So. Sebastian County edition) 2/5/25 Vol. 7 No. 6

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Greenwood Resident 2/5/25 Vol. 5 No. 6

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Resident Press (Lavaca, Charleston, Paris edition) 2/5/25 Vol. 4 No. 6

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Resident Press (Lavaca, Charleston, Paris edition) 2/5/25 Vol. 4 No. 6

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Eagles inspire awe, appreciation for conservation efforts

Outdoors

Tammy Teague

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3:46 pm

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Eagles inspire awe, appreciation for conservation efforts

By Randy Zellers

When America’s founding fathers affixed a bald eagle to the Great Seal of the United States in 1782, they likely had no idea they were highlighting what would become one of the greatest wildlife comeback stories of all time.

America’s symbol stood on the brink of extinction in the 1960s, when it was placed on the federal Endangered Species list. At that time, less than 500 nesting pairs of bald eagles were documented throughout the entire United States with no nesting pairs observed in Arkansas. Two of the primary culprits for their decline were the pesticide DDT, causing eggshell thinning in birds that ate DDT-contaminated fish, and lead poisoning as a result of lead shotgun pellets ingested when eagles preyed upon crippled and dead waterfowl. Thanks to tighter regulations on pesticide use and a ban on lead shot in waterfowl hunting, scientists and conservationists have been able to turn the tide on the eagles’ plight, with more than 13,000 breeding pairs estimated in 2007 when the species was officially “delisted” from the Endangered Species Act.

The bald eagle’s recovery hit a major milestone at a local level in 1983, when the first eagle nest since the 1950s was documented on Dale Bumpers White River National Wildlife Refuge. Since that time, the number of nests have gradually increased. Although the AGFC no longer has a formal survey for breeding pairs of eagles in the state, Karen Rowe, AGFC Nongame Bird Program Coordinator, estimates the number to be between 150 and 160.

“It could be higher, but once bald eagles were taken off the federal Endangered and Threatened Species list, the funding devoted to their monitoring had to be shifted to focus on recovering other species of birds that were still experiencing steep declines in the state,” Rowe said. “According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which monitors their numbers in the continental U.S., breeding bald eagle populations have only continued to increase since their delisting, so it’s likely that the Arkansas population has followed suit. Considering the original goal for recovery in Arkansas was only 10 breeding pairs of nesting bald eagles, we’re in phenomenal shape.”

Rowe says winter is one of the best times to view bald eagles if one is willing to bundle up and brave the chilly weather. Concentrations of eagles and other raptors travel south just like ducks, shorebirds and other migrating species. As lakes and rivers freeze in the northern states, it cuts off the supply of fish and other marine animals the eagles prey upon. Their other major food source, birds like waterfowl, head south for winter, and the eagles follow the food.

“Anywhere you find flocks of migrating waterfowl, you’re likely to come across bald eagles in winter,” Rowe said. “But the best locations are tied to our large rivers, Army Corps of Engineers reservoirs and seasonally flooded rice fields. As duck seasons wind down, you’ll find quite a few birders take more trips to some of the AGFC’s waterfowl-focused wildlife management areas to enjoy watching the many other species the habitat on these areas attracts, eagles included.”

For folks wanting to get out and take in the sight of eagles perched over the wetlands, Rowe suggests keeping an eye out for superdominant trees along the shorelines or field edges.

“Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge and DeGray Lake on the west side of the state are two of Arkansas’s most well-known eagle-watching locations, but the Delta hosts hundreds of birds each year, especially along the White and Cache rivers.”

How do you tell an eagle from a hawk or a vulture (incorrectly called a “buzzard” by some Arkansans)? First of all, size is a major factor. An eagle’s wingspan is nearly twice as wide as most hawks and owls, often reaching 7 to 8 feet. Black vultures and turkey vultures have similarly sized wingspans, but they have different flight characteristics than raptors.

“Eagles and hawks soar with their wings extended on a flat horizontal plane,” Rowe said. “Vultures hold their wings in a ‘V’ shape. And the white head and tail of both male and female adult bald eagles is a striking contrast from its brown body that will give it away.”

Rowe says golden eagles, which are similarly sized but not as common as bald eagles in Arkansas, have brown heads and tails and legs covered with feathers down to the feet. Another, often more obvious difference is their beak; the bald eagle has a very large, bright yellow beak, while the golden eagle’s is small and black. Immature bald eagles that have not attained their adult plumage also are predominantly brown with white mottling and are often confused for this lesser-known species.

“Juvenile bald eagles gradually shift toward their adult plumage as they get older and usually have the species’ trademark look by year five,” Rowe said.

Rowe said birders who wish to help track eagle nests can email her at [email protected]. Please be prepared to give exact GPS coordinates for the nest to help biologists make the best use of their follow-up time.

“It’s always great to hear the excitement in someone’s voice when they see an eagle or a nest, but we really need people to make sure that the nest is active with a breeding pair and we really need exact locations to help our monitoring efforts,” Rowe said. “We get hundreds of reports each year, but many can’t be used because we don’t have an exact location of an active nest to document.”

R

Wing demand up

About the Division of Agriculture

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