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Your holiday turkey may be harder to come by this season
Butterball Turkey
- The right size turkey for your holiday table may be in high demand this year, experts warn.
- Both the US and the UK face supply chain issues ahead of the holiday season.
- In the UK, the government issued emergency visas to poultry workers and truck drivers to ease issues in the supply chain ahead of Christmas.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
The perfect turkey for your holiday table may be difficult to find this year as farmers in the US and UK battle supply chain issues.
Turkey production in the US has decreased in 2021 compared to 2020, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), possibly making it hard to find a specific sized bird for your meal. Meanwhile, in the UK, farmers are struggling to battle shortages of labor in time for the holiday season.
In the US, the price per pound of turkey has increased due to lowered production expectations, according to a recent report by the USDA. Last year, as families and friends scaled down their holiday gatherings because of the coronavirus pandemic, smaller turkeys became increasingly popular, causing a shortage of birds under 16 pounds.
Experts are predicting the same trend during Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, with a higher demand for turkeys between 8 and 16 pounds and a smaller demand in turkey overall due to limited celebrations because of the ongoing pandemic.
“Due to COVID concerns related to the delta variant, we see 1/3 of consumers considering a smaller gathering, and so we expect demand to be similar to last year,” Christa Leupen, the public relations manager at Butterball told Insider. “Over the past year, our network of turkey growers and our team members have had to manage through challenges that could impact the availability of certain sizes or products. We are working with our retail partners across the country to make sure there is a range of turkey products available for Thanksgiving,” she said.
Butterball, the largest producer of turkey products in the US, says that 61% of its customers are not focused on the size of the turkey on the table but on whether or not they have one.
“If there is a specific size turkey you want, your best bet is to shop early to ensure you can find it,” Leupen said.
36% of consumers plan to purchase their turkeys one week before Thanksgiving, Nicole Behne, vice president of marketing at Jennie-O, told Insider. Half of the Jennie-O customers surveyed said they will purchase a frozen turkey this year while 29% want to purchase a fresh turkey.
Shoppers in the UK may not have the same options ahead of their Christmas feast. The UK announced over the weekend that it will issue emergency visas for poultry workers in order to help ease issues within the supply chain. Currently, the UK is facing a massive trucker shortage, making it difficult for fresh turkeys to reach grocery store shelves.
The UK government said it would issue 5,000 three-month visas for truck drivers starting in October, and another 5,500 for poultry workers, according to the Associated Press.
Some say that the announcement came too late and that poultry producers have already scaled back on processing the turkeys, Fox Business reported.
“This year it’s looking like there is a national shortage of turkeys when we’re talking about supermarket shelves, rather than buying direct from your farm,” Kate Martin, chairwoman of the Traditional Farm Fresh Turkey Association, told the BBC.
When it comes to selecting the right turkey for dinner with limited selection at the store, Butterball says “it is just as easy to cook a larger turkey as it is a smaller turkey, and the larger turkey means more leftovers.”
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USDA says it’ll continue to fight to pay off loans for Black farmers despite lawsuit on behalf of white farmers
Hinterhaus Productions/Getty Images
- A federal judge halted a program aimed at forgiving the loans of Black farmers.
- The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty waged a lawsuit against the program in April.
- The lawsuit on behalf of white farmers claimed the program was discriminatory.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
The Department of Agriculture promised it would start paying off the loans of Black and other minority farmers this month before a Wisconsin federal judge halted the program on Thursday.
US District Judge William Griesbach issued a temporary restraining order suspending the program because of a lawsuit by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, a conservative group based in Milwaukee, who filed the suit on behalf of white farmers who said it was discriminatory towards them, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan signed by President Joe Biden in March set aside $4 billion toward debt relief for socially disadvantaged farmers to pay off burdensome debts. It would pay up to 120% of direct or guaranteed farm loan balances for Black, American Indian, Hispanic, Asian American, or Pacific Islander farmers.
“This is a big deal for us,” John Boyd, Jr., president of the National Black Farmers Association, told CBS MoneyWatch in March. “We see this as a great opportunity to help thousands.”
The program, however, was opposed by 49 Republican senators.
USDA did not respond to Insider’s request for comment at the time of publication but officials told The Washington Post that 17,000 farmers of color qualify for this assistance so far and vowed to defend their efforts in court.
“We respectfully disagree with this temporary order and USDA will continue to forcefully defend our ability to carry out this act of Congress and deliver debt relief to socially disadvantaged borrowers,” Matt Herrick, USDA director of communications, told The Post. “When the temporary order is lifted, USDA will be prepared to provide the debt relief authorized by Congress.”
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Photos show a plague of mice swarming New South Wales, Australia, where they’re eating up farmers’ crops, home appliances, and even each other
Rick Rycroft/AP
- Large parts of New South Wales state, Australia, are facing a mouse plague.
- The mice have been eating farmers’ grains and chewing through electrical wires.
- A local farmers’ group estimates the plague could lose them $775,000 in the upcoming crop season.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
Large parts of the state in New South Wales, Australia, are plagued by a swarm of mice that farmers say have been destroying home appliances, spoiling farmers’ crops, and even eating each other.
The state government called the plague “absolutely unprecedented” and warned that it could cause huge economic damage, the Associated Press reported Friday.
Rick Rycroft/AP
There is a risk that the mice will eat up farmers’ wheat, barley, and canola before it can be harvested, the AP said.
The NSW Farmers Association, a top agricultural group in the state, estimated that the plague could cost farmers a total of 1 billion Australian dollars ($771,000) during the winter crop season, the AP reported. The Southern Hemisphere winter lasts from June to August.
Xavier Martin, the vice president of NSW Farmers, described to ITV News on Wednesday an “explosion in mouse numbers” and said they were eating up crops, and destroying home appliances and telecommunication networks.
“When they run out of food, when they run out of seeds to eat they start cannibalizing, they start eating each other,” he said, according to ITV News.
“Look, even in this house here they ate the hose at the back of the dishwasher, so when the dishwasher ran, it flooded the kitchen.”
Rick Rycroft/AP
Martin said the mice also “shut down” several telecommunication towers across the southern part of the state, making it hard for people to contact authorities for help.
One family home in Gwabegar, northeastern New South Wales, even burned down after mice chewed through their electrical wires, 9News reported. The state’s fire service is investigating whether the destroyed electrical wires caused the fire.
People also described the mice getting into their homes and clothes.
Another farmer in central New South Wales, Jason Conn, told the AP: “They’re in the roof cavity of your house. If your house is not well sealed, they’re in bed with you. People are getting bitten in bed.”
“It doesn’t relent, that’s for sure.”
Rick Rycroft/AP
Martin also told ITV News: “I walk out of the door there now and stand still they’ll climb out the outside of my trousers and inside of my trousers, they’re just running about everywhere.”
Earlier this month, the state government ordered 5,000 liters of Bromadiolone, a poison that can kill mice within 24 hours, according to The Canberra Times. Some farmers told the newspaper it would not be enough to halt the infestation in the entire state.
Steve Henry, an expert on mice, said the creatures would not be heading to major cities like Sydney, The Guardian reported. “Moving is a really dangerous thing for a mouse to do because it puts itself at risk of predation,” he said.
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