Thanksgiving Turkeys May Be in Short Supply This Year: 'The News Is Not Promising'

Abigail Adams
·3 min read
turkeys
turkeys

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There might be a different protein on the Thanksgiving dinner table this year.

According to a recent New York Post report, a turkey shortage is practically inevitable and will largely impact birds under 16 pounds — the most popular kind.

"The news is not promising," said a broker for Shady Brook Farms, one of the United States' largest turkey suppliers, in a July 26 letter regarding the status of fresh and whole turkeys for the upcoming holiday season, an anonymous food seller told The Post.

In the letter, the broker warned that the industry is still struggling with "production issues" compounded by the global pandemic.

Stew Leonard, owner of the Morton Williams grocery chain, said he is planning to receive just half of the turkey supply he typically needs for the holidays.

"Shady Brook told us they could only give us 50% of the turkeys we need and want for the holidays," Leonard told The Post.

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Morton Williams was recently informed that it will not receive any birds under 16 pounds. The chain's meat buyer Victor Colello said fresh birds will only be "sporadically available" in-store.

"I'm frustrated that we won't get the most popular size bird. It's just another hurdle we have to jump over," he told The Post. He predicts some customers will not be pleased with the lack of options.

turkey dinner
turkey dinner

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Colello is working on possible solutions to the problem. "I'll probably have to break down some of the larger turkeys, to give people the parts they want," he said.

Larger frozen birds will be easier to come by, per the report, though they require much more attention from at-home cooks preparing their respective feasts. Simply defrosting a 20-pound turkey can take up to six days and can take about two hours longer to cook than smaller birds.

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"Turkey is such a seasonal item, dominated by the Thanksgiving market," David Anderson, a professor of agriculture economics at Texas A & M University, told The Post. "We can build up supplies with frozen turkeys for the Thanksgiving market, but fresh turkeys have a tighter schedule. The eggs have to hatch at a certain time."

Turkeys have been growing faster than many producers can keep up with, according to Daniel Romanoff, president of Bronx-based meat distributor Nebraskaland. He said it takes "a very precise schedule" to get a bird at 14 pounds or lower.

Some small turkey vendors, like Jaindl Farms of Allentown, Penn., have been inundated with requests for their products. Owner David Jaindl told The Post that "customers are having trouble getting their Thanksgiving commitments from their vendors and are coming to us."

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Shady Brook Farms has acknowledged its current turkey shortage. A spokesman for Cargill (which owns the company) said they are "continuing to manage tight labor markets while working to keep employees safe from the impacts of COVID-19 in the communities where they operate" in a statement to The Post.

"It is important to note that the overall frozen bird production remains the same compared to previous years though average bird weights are slightly higher for both fresh and frozen birds due processing delays," the company said.