The highest growth of meat consumption is expected from the Asia-Pacific and Latin American regions, because of changing diet patterns, urbanization, population, and economic growth. For example, China consumes around 28% of the world’s meat, including half of its pork, and an average Chinese person eats around 63 kg of meat a year. The worldwide economic downturn has had a very limited effect on the global meat market, which has maintained its positive outlook. Globally increasing population trends are also supporting the growth of the world meat and seafood market. Increasing life expectancy, limited availability of land and water resources for animal feed production, and increasing use of these resources for food and ethanol production are increasing the demand for animal feed in the global meat industry.

Countries, such as India, China, Brazil, and Russia are among the world’s fastest-growing economies; a rise in per capita income is expected to shift dietary preferences toward protein-rich diets. However, meat consumption patterns will likely remain significantly different in various parts of the world, because of cultural, religious, and other consumer preference factors in different countries. Hence the more consumption of meat will drive the global future forage seed market during the forecasting period.

Environmental regulations surrounding the global compound feed industry, and strict regulations on few feed additives, like antibiotics, are acting as challenges to the compound feed market, thereby affecting the livestock industry. 

Currently, North America is the largest forage seed market. Alfalfa is the largest traded seed among all the categories, and in the United States alone, it accounted for a share of 27% of the market value in 2018. Currently, the United States occupies the largest market share (48%). Favorable weather conditions and an ever-increasing domestic and international demand are driving the growth in the North American forage seed market. Weather in the North American region is a major reason behind the decline of demand in the forage seed market. To counter this effect, in December 2017, Grassland Oregon, a seed company based in Salem, Oregon, launched FIXatioN Balansa and Frosty Berseem clovers, making them available to producers in Canada. Both varieties are capable of withstanding temperatures as cold as -26°C and -5°C, respectively.