BUFFALO, Minn. (KFGO/WCCO) – Wholesale turkey prices are up ahead of Thanksgiving. The price for a whole hen turkey is projected to average $1.32 per pound in 2025, a 40% jump from last year, according to the USDA and American Farm Bureau Federation analysis. The price hike is driven by lower production, with a 3% drop in birds raised nationally.
Executive Director of The Minnesota Turkey Growers Association Ashley Kohls says while frozen turkeys will stay relatively cheap, fresh birds will be more expensive.
“So if your family is the type that waits and buys a fresh turkey from the grocery store or from somebody local, that turkey is going to be higher than it was at the same time last year, just because the demand for turkey is higher,” says Kohls.
Minnesota produced over 900 million pounds of turkey in 2025, ranking second to North Carolina in the total number of pounds produced.
“Right now is kind of the Super Bowl time to prepare for Thanksgiving within our industry, but turkey is grown in Minnesota year-round,” says Kohls. “And so folks have been working year round to put turkeys in the freezers for folks to enjoy.”
Kohls adds that the price hikes are driven by factors like rising operating costs for farmers in Minnesota.
USDA economists calculate U.S. turkey output at roughly 2.33 billion pounds in the first half of 2025, down nearly 10% from the first half of 2024. They blame disease outbreaks and a tighter production pipeline. The poultry industry continues to fight highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI.
Growers reported over 600,000 affected turkeys in September. Since 2022, state and federal trackers have counted about 18.7 million affected turkeys nationwide, including more than 2.2 million birds in 2025.
In 2024, Thanksgiving dinner was estimated to cost $58.08 for 10 people, up 19% from 2019.
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