MN Turkey Growers Navigate Pandemic to Get Birds to Your Table

BUFFALO -- Good news for turkey lovers. There should be plenty of birds available for the upcoming Thanksgiving feast.

Sarah Anderson is the Executive Director of the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association. She says farmers had to adjust early on in the pandemic to prepare for some grocers asking for smaller birds as families may hold smaller gatherings.

She adds the 2015 bird flu pandemic where millions of turkeys were either lost or killed helped prepare Minnesota growers for this one...

You know, obviously, they understand biosecurity. That's an important factor for them. They have a lot of rules already that they follow to keep their flocks safe from any pathogens. So, it was really just taking the knowledge they know from that experience and then translating it to the human side. And, so I think they really were much more prepared to handle this pandemic than maybe other sectors.

Anderson says the supply of turkeys at the grocery store this year should be good, but it's always a good plan to order your turkey ahead of time.

Minnesota is the top turkey producer in the nation averaging 44-46-million birds per year with an economic impact to the state of more than $1-billion. Anderson that is approximately the number of turkeys Americans eat every Thanksgiving which truly makes Minnesota the Thanksgiving capital of the nation.