Several factors driving up turkey costs

Several factors are driving up the price of Thanksgiving turkeys.  University of Minnesota professor of ag economics Michael Boland says inflation is occurring across the U.S. economy:

“In particular, we’ve seen it in food prices. So it stands to reason that we’re going to see higher prices for food at Thanksgiving this year.”

Boland says turkey supplies have been reduced by this year’s outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza:

“And as they increase their harvesting dates for turkeys to probably bring some more supply in, we’re getting lighter-weight turkeys because those turkeys might not have been harvested until December.”

Boland says turkey growers are dealing with higher energy costs, more expensive feed, and a lack of adequate labor:

“And couple that with the cutback in the supply of turkeys, it’s no small surprise that we’re going to see higher prices for turkeys.”

Every year Minnesota turkey farmers raise 40-42 million birds.