Forget the T-bone steak, or the pork spare ribs, for which the cuisine of US carnivores is famous.

Think chicken wings. America is poised to become a nation primarily of white meat eaters, as higher grain prices highlight the price competitiveness of poultry rearing, the US Department of Agriculture has said.

In a series of benchmark agricultural forecasts, the USDA has predicted poultry overtaking red meat - beef, lamb, mutton, pork and veal -  in the American diet in 2018, overhauling a historic disadvantage which in 2009 totalled nearly 15 pounds per head.

Indeed, poultry consumption will continue to set historic highs, on a per capita basis, on its way to 106.9 pounds in a decade's time.  

Although beef and pork consumption will recover from 2013 lows, they will remain well below 1980s levels.

Red vs white 

The forecasts are down in part to chickens' greater efficiency in converting feed to meat than cattle or hogs, a competitive advantage when grain prices are expected to remain high, and in also their shorter period to slaughter.

"The poultry sector adjusts faster than the red meats sector to higher feed costs," the USDA said.

However, the projections also reflect expectations of only small growth in US chicken exports over the next decade compared with beef and pork shipments, leaving increased production focused on the domestic market.

Indeed, healthy supplies will keep poultry producers' returns static from 2014 at about 9.75 cents per pound of broiler meat.

Back to beef? 

Not that hog farmers will enjoy rich pickings, extending until 2012 their string of annual losses, and seeing only a slow revival in profits thereafter.

Cattle farmers will see returns above cash costs of $100-150 per cow for most of the decade – sufficient to prompt an increase of 3m to 34m in the beef cow herd over the decade, and raise supplies enough to keep prices in check and revive the taste for beef.

"Per capita beef consumption declines through 2013 before rising moderately," the USDA said.

"The initial decline reflects continuing reductions in beef production through 2012 coupled with expanding exports.

"However, as beef production increases in later years, per capita consumption grows."