What does the animal feed market landscape look like in the US?

The US animal feed landscape remains structurally fragmented across both segments, with a long tail of regional operators alongside a limited number of scaled platforms (e.g. Land O’Lakes). Herein, large platforms in compound feed differentiate primarily through vertically integrated supply chains and multi-site manufacturing networks, while smaller producers compete through localized production and formulation flexibility. By contrast, the ingredients and additives segment combines scaled ingredient platforms (e.g. Darling Ingredients) with numerous category-specific additive specialists operating across a wide range of product classes (e.g. enzymes and trace minerals). Within the ingredients niche, competition is shaped by standardized nutritional inputs, where pricing is closely linked to commodity alternatives and scale supports the absorption of fixed costs and market coverage. Meanwhile, the additives category remains more fragmented due to product diversification and narrowly defined functional applications. As a result, competitive positioning in additives is driven less by scale and more by formulation intensity and validation capabilities, within a regulatory framework that constrains claims, labeling and use conditions.