The USDA says the U.S. produced a record amount of red meat in 2020.

The total of 55.774 billion pounds was a little bit larger than the initial guess from December and up 1% from the previous record set in 2019, with commercial and on-farm production both climbing slightly, despite a slowdown in processing during the first half of the year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pork production of 28.304 billion pounds was 2% above the prior year, driven by a higher slaughter pace, up 1.571 million head to 130.782 million, and a heavier average live weights, gaining four pounds to 289 pounds.

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