Rising turkey prices

The largest impact on the price of a traditional Thanksgiving meal this year will be its staple, Turkey. Arguably, the most famous dish seen at tables is the thanksgiving turkey, a product currently being affected by rising meat prices.  

Pape Meat Co, a local poultry business, had noticed several changes regarding their turkey supplies this year. They have seen a considerable increase in demand for turkey compared to 2020 leading to increased prices.

“[Turkey] prices have gone up about 30 cents per pound,” Brian Gilbert, a worker at Pape Meat Co, said. 

There’s a complex tangle of economic issues that factor into the rising prices of turkeys, including the more expensive costs used to grow the turkeys from the last year.  

“There’s no single answer, but higher corn and soybean prices mean higher feed costs for turkeys,” Professor Jayson Lusk, an economist professor from Purdue University, said. 

Lusk estimated a 10% increase in the prices of turkey compared to last year’s prices. Besides the rising costs of the turkey feed, he notes that the bird prices reflect adverse weather conditions around the globe, such as in agricultural regions as far as in Brazil. The difficult weather conditions make it harder for turkeys to be raised properly to meet the demands of the buyers, adding another price tag to the expounding bill.