Farmers' Share of Thanksgiving Food Bill Stays Low

With your Southeast Regional Ag News, I’m Haylie Shipp. This is the Ag Information Network.

We’ve talked about the cost of Thanksgiving dinner on this program and the amount of food that Americans waste associated with the holiday. But today, we’re talking about the farmer-level. What do America’s agricultural producers make?

National Farmers Union President Rob Larew says the farmers’ share of the Thanksgiving food dollar continues to stay low.

“Corporate profits and consumer food costs continue to go up and up, but the farmers’ share of the food dollar is still low,” Larew says. “Thanksgiving is a time of family and community, but thanks to price gouging by corporate monopolies in the food system,” he goes on to say that “the holiday meal is getting increasingly difficult to afford.”

The NFU says the retail price of turkey averages $1.99 a pound, and the farmers’ share is six cents per pound. Two pounds of boneless ham retails for $12.98, with the farmers’ share at one dollar.

Even though consumers are paying more for food, almost none of that increase according to the National Farmers Union is getting passed on to family farmers and ranchers. They say that mega-consolidation in the food sector has made supply chains uncompetitive and resulted in farmers being underpaid.