WHAT HAPPENED: NCC announced that Edward Fishman, Senior Fellow and Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomics at the Council on Foreign Relations and New York Times bestselling author of Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare, will speak on October 29 at the National Chicken Council’s 71st Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.
ABOUT EDWARD FISHMAN: A New York Times best-selling author and leading authority on economic statecraft, Fishman has held key foreign policy roles at the State Department, Treasury Department, and Pentagon. He has been directly involved in shaping U.S. economic sanctions and foreign policy, including policies involving Russia and Iran. At the Annual Conference, Fishman will discuss “How Businesses Can Navigate the Age of Economic Warfare,” offering insight into how sanctions, tariffs, export controls, and other economic tools are reshaping global commerce – and what businesses should be watching as geopolitical and economic competition intensifies.
Special thanks to CJ BIO for sponsoring Fishman’s presentation.
HOW TO REGISTER: Join NCC October 28–29, 2026, in Washington, D.C., to gain insights into the legislative, regulatory, political, business, and economic issues shaping the chicken industry’s future — and connect with industry leaders driving that future forward. The conference is open to NCC members, state association representatives, press, government officials, academia, and other interested parties. For more information, questions, sponsorship opportunities, or to register, please contact Polina Burko at [email protected].
THANKING OUR SPONSORS:
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WHAT HAPPENED: Dr. Heidi Overton appeared before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee yesterday for her confirmation hearing as the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). If confirmed, Overton, at 37, will be the youngest FDA commissioner ever. Questioning focused mainly on vaccines and the abortion drug mifepristone. HELP Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-La.) opened the hearing by asking Overton whether the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine is lethal; Overton replied it is not and reiterated that the vaccine is safe and effective against measles. Asked whether any vaccines currently on the market are unsafe, Overton responded that “every vaccine on the U.S. market right now is safe and effective, according to the FDA.”
ABOUT DR. OVERTON: A native of New Mexico and a preventive medicine physician who worked in both Trump administrations, she currently serves as a White House domestic policy adviser and worked on several White House health initiatives, including the revamped food pyramid.
WHY IT MATTERS: The FDA has been without a permanent leader for months. Former Commissioner Marty Makary resigned following public clashes with lawmakers, major pharmaceutical companies and the president, and Kyle Diamantas has served as acting commissioner since May 2026. While the hearing centered on human health issues, the FDA commissioner oversees policy with direct implications for animal agriculture. FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine regulates animal drugs, including antimicrobials used in poultry production and the Veterinary Feed Directive, along with animal feed safety and approval of new animal health products. The agency also regulates food additives, food labeling, and food facility inspections outside of USDA-FSIS jurisdiction. Makary also left behind unfinished projects on ultra-processed foods, an issue the incoming commissioner will inherit.
WHAT’S NEXT: Overton must win approval from the HELP Committee for her nomination to advance to a full Senate vote. A committee vote has not yet been scheduled.
Senate panel considers President Trumps’s nomination of Dr. Heidi Overton. Source: Fox Business
WHAT HAPPENED: With the House already gone, the Senate is the only chamber still in Washington. Speaker Mike Johnson sent House lawmakers home on September 16, canceling votes scheduled for the following day, so members could campaign. The Senate is scheduled to remain in session until October 2, as of now, and both chambers will return from the midterm recess on November 9. In its final days before the break, senators are expected to work on judicial nominations and other legislative issues but are not expected to release the chamber’s long-delayed fiscal year 2027 spending bills. With the government already funded through December 11, there is no must-pass deadline forcing action before the Senate leaves.
WHY IT MATTERS: Several items of interest to agriculture are unlikely to reach the Senate floor before October 2, if at all. Senate Agriculture Chairman John Boozman anticipates a floor vote on the farm bill after the midterm elections in November, and the bill will need enough bipartisan support to clear the 60-vote threshold. Meanwhile, the current farm bill extension expires September 30, and it remains unclear whether the Senate will act on another extension before leaving town.
WHAT’S NEXT: The post-election calendar is short. The Senate is set to return for two days the week after the election, before the Nov. 11 observation of Veterans Day. After that, the chamber returns a total of seven days prior to Thanksgiving and works three weeks in December ahead of the Christmas recess, with a target adjournment of Dec. 18. That leaves roughly four weeks of floor time to address government funding ahead of the December 11 deadline, the farm bill, defense authorization, pending nominations and any reconciliation package before the 119th Congress ends.
1996, location unknown. L-R: John Rogers, NCC Vice Chairman, B.C. Rogers Company; Unknown; Mark Simmons, Simmons Foods, NCC Chairman; Unknown; Jim Perdue, Perdue Farms, NCC Secretary-Treasurer. If you can name the two unidentified individuals, e-mail Tom Super for recognition in next week’s newsletter: [email protected]
U.S. total broiler slaughter data for the week ending September 19, 2026, is estimated by USDA’s Poultry Market News Service to be 168,013,000 broilers, a 4-percent decrease from the same week a year earlier.
The 4-percent decrease in slaughter compares with a 2-percent increase in eggs set in the United States 10 weeks earlier, and a 1-percent increase in chicks placed 7 weeks earlier in the United States. USDA’s latest Broiler Hatchery report can be viewed here.
| U.S. Eggs Set, Chicks Placed, Broiler Slaughter Report | ||||||||||
| Week ending | Eggs set | Chicks placed | Eggs set | Chicks placed | Broilers slaughtered | |||||
| change from | change from | 10 weeks previous | 7 weeks previous | |||||||
| 1 year | 1 year | 1 year | 1 year | 1 year | ||||||
| -000- | % | -000- | % | -000- | % | -000- | % | -000- | % | |
| Aug | ||||||||||
| 15 | 249,495 | 100 | 196,464 | 102 |
257,097 | 102 | 198,693 | 102 | 172,776 | 101 |
| 22 | 251,894 | 101 | 195,177 | 101 |
254,493 | 101 | 197,202 | 101 | 174,016 | 100 |
| 29 | 250,303 | 101 | 194,414 | 100 |
252,943 | 101 | 195,611 | 100 | 171,708 | 97 |
| Sep | ||||||||||
| 5 * | 248,681 | 99 | 193,557 | 100 |
252,451 | 101 | 195,455 | 101 | 174,775 | 108 |
| 12 | 245,222 | 99 | 194,922 | 100 |
251,737 | 100 | 194,607 | 100 | 158,906 | 91 |
| 19 | 247,786 | 103 | 194,595 | 101 |
251,893 | 102 | 194,575 | 101 | 168,013 | 96 |
| 24 | — | — | — | — |
252,493 | 101 | 195,784 | 101 | — | — |
*Labor Day Holiday Weekend
