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10/26/2022

Holiday Turkeys to Cost More

The increase is tied to the six million that died during bird flu outbreak

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, turkey farmers from California to Pennsylvania are watching in horror as a virulent new strain of avian influenza wipes out their flocks, killing birds practically overnight and forcing hundreds of thousands more to be euthanized to prevent further infection.

The rampant spread of the virus has already eliminated more than 6 million turkeys nationwide, about 14 percent of the nation’s total turkey production, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department. It is leaving farmers short of their usual offerings and pushing up prices for those that remain, forcing consumers already walloped by inflation to pay an additional 20 percent or more per pound for Thanksgiving turkeys compared with prices last year, according to several estimates.

“It’s devastating,” said Heidi Diestel, whose family has operated the Diestel Family Turkey Ranch in Sonora, Calif., for four generations. The ranch lost more than 150,000 turkeys in August after avian influenza infected one of its flocks.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.

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