You Might Save on Thanksgiving Costs This Year

Hi all, thank you for joining me this thanksgiving. In spirit of the food-centric holiday, let’s hear from the American Farm Bureau Federation. AFBF released its 2023 Thanksgiving Dinner cost Survey. Veronica Nigh, an economist with the American Farm Bureau, says a Thanksgiving meal might be a little cheaper this year.

“The Thanksgiving dinner is about five percent less than was reported last year. Certainly, inflation continues to be an issue for all of us. And it's certainly worth noting that while we saw a decrease this year, Thanksgiving dinner is still up about 25 percent relative to 2019, the last year where things were relatively normal in U.S. food production. But directionally, things are looking up.”

“This year, turkey prices were down almost six percent compared to last year. I'll take you back to 2022, when we had a really nasty outbreak of high path avian influenza, and while that still is lingering out there, the number of impacted turkeys in 2023 compared to 2022 are down more than 95 percent. Certainly, having contained high path avian influenza has led to lower turkey prices in 2023.”