PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (February 3, 2023) – The College of Agriculture and Human Sciences (CAHS) at Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) was awarded over $99,000 to study meat goat market drivers and consumer preferences as a healthier meat option for U.S. consumers via Texas A&M AgriLife Institute for Advancing Health Through Agriculture (IHA).
Goat meat is rich in protein yet holds lower fat and caloric content than conventionally consumed meats in the U.S. – such as beef, pork, chicken, or even turkey. Additionally, U.S. goat meat demand has dramatically increased over the years. One of the primary causes of this increased demand is an increase in the foreign-born immigrant population that consumes goat meat regularly. So why is it that goat meat demand has increased dramatically, while goat meat production continues to fall short?
Sunil Dhoubhadel, Ph.D., assistant professor of Agriculture
That’s exactly what Sunil Dhoubhadel, Ph.D., assistant professor of Agriculture at PVAMU, intends to find out.
Dr. Dhoubhadel’s research proposal poses two possible reasons for this mismatch of supply and demand in the American goat meat economy.
The first potential factor is that the current U.S. goat production systems are not very efficient – making it an unprofitable enterprise. The inefficient production systems make goat production costs higher in the United States compared to goat meat exporting countries (e.g., Australia). Because of the lower production costs, imported goat meat outcompetes domestically produced goat meat in the U.S. market.
Second, the U.S. meat goat markets are poorly developed compared to other livestock. There is a lack of market information that helps goat producers to make informed production and marketing decisions.
“PVAMU CAHS is known for its international goat research center,” said Dr. Dhoubhadel. “This grant will initiate a new line of research projects on goat production and market economics at CAHS, a pioneer research program on goat economics. When this program is established at PVAMU, it can go a long way to make PVAMU the primary center for goat economic research in the United States.”
To assist with various research activities such as data collection and analysis on this project, Dr. Dhoubhadel will be selecting 1-2 students to participate in the project – extending the learning opportunities even further.
“With this grant project, the College of Agriculture and Human Sciences (CAHS) at PVAMU will be collaborating with the Institute of Advancing Health through Agriculture (IHA) at Texas A&M University (TAMU) for the first time,” said PVAMU Vice President of Research & Innovation Magesh Rajan, Ph.D., P.E., MBA. “We’re thrilled to leverage this grant opportunity into many more collaborations between CAHS and IHA in the future.”
The IHA is the world’s first academic institute to bring together precision nutrition, responsive agriculture, and social and behavioral healthy living research to reduce diet-related chronic disease and lower healthcare costs in a way that supports producers and the environment.
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By Jenna Craig