What Three CEOs Revealed About the Future of Livestock Production at JPM 2026

The 44th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference delivered a clear signal: the animal health industry has moved from managing supply shocks to engineering biological resilience. The Big Three animal health companies used the platform to announce conditional vaccine approvals, carbon monetization platforms, and protein demand forecasts that would have seemed absurd five years ago. What emerged was not a defensive industry bracing for the next outbreak, but an offensive one selling predictability to producers facing biological and regulatory complexity.

Zoetis CEO Kristin Peck stated vaccines are "the fastest growing area across livestock." This is a structural shift. The company secured conditional USDA licenses for H5N2 avian influenza vaccines in both poultry and dairy cattle in 2025. The poultry approval came in February 2025, the dairy approval later that year. Over 150 million birds have been culled since February 2022, and over 1,000 dairy herds infected since March 2024.

The strategic value is not the vaccine itself but the DIVA (Differentiate Infected from Vaccinated Animals) compatibility. By using an H5N2 vaccine against H5N1 field virus, the neuraminidase mismatch allows serological testing to distinguish vaccinated from infected animals. This solves the trade barrier problem. Historically, importing countries ban poultry from vaccinating nations because vaccination can mask active infection. DIVA-compatible vaccines allow protection without disrupting surveillance or triggering export restrictions.

Elanco's competing Medgene partnership remains in conditional license review, creating a first-mover window for Zoetis in what the company estimates is a $200 million addressable market. Peck emphasized that animals are "highly valuable" given U.S. beef herds are at their lowest levels in decades, driving willingness to pay for premium treatments. She projects meaningful herd rebuilding will not be visible until 2027 due to nine-month gestation cycles.

Elanco CEO Jeff Simmons made the conference's most unexpected demand forecast. He stated that GLP-1 use is driving 30-60% increases in beef and chicken consumption among users. The mechanism is nutritional: GLP-1 users reduce total caloric intake but increase protein density to preserve muscle mass. Simmons noted this reverses the "meatless Monday" narrative from five years ago and positions protein as "taste, cost, nutrition."

This is not speculative. Phibro Animal Health executives reported the same observation: GLP-1 users spend less on food overall but prioritize high-quality animal protein. If sustained, this demand profile extends beyond current production capacity and supports pricing power for integrators investing in efficiency technologies like gut health additives and feed conversion optimization.

Simmons positioned Elanco's livestock business (50% of total revenue) as benefiting from "over a $40 billion industry that's predicted to double in the next ten years." He emphasized U.S. farmers as "the most competitive" and highlighted animal agriculture as a "net exporting business" with structural durability.

Elanco's Bovaer (3-NOP methane inhibitor) received FDA approval in May 2024 for lactating dairy cattle and launched commercially in Q3 2024. The product reduces methane emissions by approximately 30% in dairy cattle and 45% in beef. Simmons announced approximately 500,000 dairy cows are activated in Elanco's UpLook emissions tracking database.

The business model is more sophisticated than a feed additive sale. Elanco partnered with dsm-firmenich for global commercialization rights and created the Athian carbon credit marketplace. This enables carbon insetting: the dairy producer gets paid by the CPG company (Nestlé, Danone) for verified emissions reductions, subsidizing the cost of the additive while allowing the food company to reduce Scope 3 supply chain emissions.

Simmons estimates $200 million U.S. blockbuster potential. Beef cattle approval would expand this approximately three times domestically. This creates recurring revenue uncorrelated with milk or beef commodity prices. California SB 1383 and EU methane regulations provide mandatory reduction frameworks that will drive adoption beyond voluntary sustainability programs.

Genus PIC released consumer research from Circana showing 90% of consumers are open to purchasing pork from gene-edited pigs. The driver was framing: when gene editing is positioned as "responsibly reducing the need for antibiotics" rather than yield improvement, historical GMO resistance evaporates.

The company's PRRS-resistant pig uses CRISPR-Cas9 to delete a portion of the CD163 gene, rendering the animal biologically immune to Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome. PRRS costs U.S. producers $1.2 billion annually and drives antibiotic usage due to secondary bacterial infections. Genus received FDA approval in 2025 and is advancing commercialization including a joint venture with Beijing Capital Agribusiness to enter China, the world's largest pork market.

This is a permanent genetic trait, not a pharmaceutical intervention. The strategic implication: breeding companies can now sell disease resistance as a durable competitive advantage rather than relying on integrators to purchase vaccines and therapeutics in perpetuity.

Zoetis is integrating its CLARIFIDE genomic platform with its biopharmaceutical portfolio to offer "Precision Animal Health." This combines genomic prediction of disease susceptibility with diagnostic surveillance and targeted therapeutics. Oxford Nanopore announced 60% year-over-year growth in its clinical infectious disease segment, driven by portable sequencing technology that delivers same-day pathogen identification at point of care. The UK government deployed respiratory metagenomic sequencing workflows to 30 NHS hospitals as "always-on pandemic radar."

The livestock application is direct. Portable nanopore sequencing enables multi-pathogen detection in a single test with strain-level resolution, critical for DIVA surveillance. Traditional diagnostics require sample transport and batch processing. Real-time barn-level sequencing transforms outbreak response and creates national surveillance infrastructure for transboundary diseases.

Merck CEO Rob Davis devoted zero JPM 2026 airtime to Merck Animal Health despite the division securing conditional FDA approval for EXZOLT CATTLE-CA1 (fluralaner pour-on) for New World Screwworm and cattle fever tick in December 2025. The company's entire presentation focused on human pharmaceutical pipeline and $70 billion mid-2030s revenue targets. Davis emphasized "multi tens of billions of dollars" M&A capacity but provided no signal this would extend to animal health assets.

This absence is strategic information. Merck Animal Health operates independently from investor relations priorities, with product news flowing through veterinary channels rather than healthcare conferences. Companies monitor IPPE 2026 and veterinary trade shows for Merck's livestock strategy, not JPM.

Swine received limited attention relative to cattle and poultry despite representing one-third of global meat production. Aquaculture was entirely absent. China market dynamics post-African Swine Fever recovery were not addressed in any CEO remarks. No company provided specific margin or pricing data for new product launches beyond high-level revenue estimates.