Maggie's Farm

Henry Saglio, who helped make poultry the most popular meat in America when he slashed production costs by breeding a meatier bird that matured quickly and laid more eggs, died on Dec. 13 at a nursing home in Connecticut. He was 92....
''He is the father of the poultry industry,'' said Frank Perdue, chairman of the executive committee at Perdue Farms. ''He put so much time and focus into this that even a year ago he was still coming up with ideas.''

Using only a small coop he had fashioned from an old piano, Mr. Saglio began raising chickens while growing up on a fruit and vegetable farm in rural Connecticut. [Glastonbury]

''Back then chicken was probably the most expensive meat you could buy,'' said Richard Lobb, a spokesman for the National Chicken Council in Washington, which Mr. Saglio helped found in 1954. ''Most people only ate it occasionally, like one night a week. The industry needed a bird that could produce a lot of meat and grow to market size quickly. By cutting down on production costs, Mr. Saglio came up with a more desirable product.''
Today, the Department of Agriculture says, chicken consumption in this country stands at about 82.1 pounds per person, well above that of beef. In the early 1960's, Mr. Lobb said, Americans ate only 28 pounds per person a year.