Our list of top states in turkey production will reveal you where America gets most of its turkeys for Thanksgiving dinners.
People in the United States love turkey, that’s a fact. According to the University of Illinois, Americans consumed 16 pounds of turkey on average in 2012. Another interesting thing is that 88% of people in the United States eat turkey as their main meal on Thanksgiving. This holiday is also the time when most turkeys are consumed in American households. On average, 46 million turkeys are eaten on Thanksgiving, with substantial numbers being consumed on Christmas (22 million) and Easter (19 million).
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Taking this into consideration, it isn’t surprising that the United States account for almost half of world’s turkey production. According to The Poultry Site, which used multiple sources, world’s turkey production was 5.63 million tonnes in 2012. Out of that number, the United States were accountable for 2.6 million tonnes. Other big producers are Brazil with 0.51 million tonnes, Germany with 0.56 million tonnes and France with 0.45 million tonnes. The value of turkey production in the United States in 2012 was $5.45 billion, while the number was $5.71 billion in 2015. 2015 was considered a rough year for turkey production the United States, since it was estimated that around 7 million turkeys died due to the outbreak of avian influenza. Surprisingly, the prices didn’t increase. If you are more of a chicken person, then check out our list of 10 Biggest Chicken – Producing States in America.
In order to find out which are the top states in turkey production, we used data from United States Department of Agriculture and their yearly Poultry – Production and Value report. The report contains information about numbers of turkeys raised, pounds produced and value of production. In order to have the most accurate list, we formed three separate rankings and then combined them, thus getting our list. Check it out.
