Major Challenges of US Goat Producers and Way Forward

Three limiting resources to feed the world in the future are arable land, water, and Ag talent. Obviously, goat production is in this mix, because we need to use appropriate technology to improve goat production. Also, goat production is influenced by imports, markets, and a fragmented industry. Although imports may be good to fill in shortfalls in production, they may harm the industry due to their relatively lower prices compared to domestically produced goat meat. The markets are unstructured and generally lack accurate price discovery, which ultimately, makes pricing difficult. Furthermore, there have been the challenges of a fragmented industry, in which producers do not have access to adequate drugs or vaccines as well as antibiotics approved for use. Despite these challenges, the American Goat Federation is championing the course of the Goat Industry (e.g., at APHIS). Change is hard; however, all stakeholders have to embrace current technology to improve goat production, and increase profit margins.