Thanksgiving Turkey Prices Remarkably High Due To Worst-Ever Bird Flu Outbreak

The Cornwell family in Marshall, Michigan, which raises as many as 40,000 birds a year, is getting calls for the first time from large food distributors and food-services companies that usually only buy from major producers, farm owner Patti Cornwell said. Prices are about $10 to $15 higher than previous year, and many stores are having trouble stocking birds more than 25 pounds. But shoppers seemed to be unaffected by the increase in valuation.

Kane predicts that’ll mean turkeys are selling for a dollar-15 to a dollar-20 a pound, higher for fresh and organic turkeys.

“They may choose other things, but really turkeys sell out Thanksgiving every year and I don’t see that being any different this year”, Wellinghoff said.

Bird flu took a bite out of the turkey supply.

The worst-ever outbreak of avian flu earlier this year is leading to record prices for Thanksgiving turkeys in the U.S. Americans reportedly will consume 49 million turkeys on November 26, or about 20 percent of the annual total.

Those who do want a bigger bird for the holiday may have to settle for cooking two smaller birds.

“The biggest issue is we do have a turkeys this year is going to be in the fresh turkey side of it”, Sellers said. And as per the U.S. Department of Agriculture data, production fell to a five-year low, and the September weight decline for turkeys was the biggest for that month in four decades.