Thanksgiving weekend is always a busy time with family and friends.
Darren Ference, Chair of the Turkey Farmers of Canada says a lot of people will be sitting down to enjoy a traditional turkey dinner.
“Last year at Thanksgiving, there were 2.1 million whole turkeys that were purchased, which was 37% of the whole bird market at Thanksgiving. And there was 2.6 million kilograms of whole turkeys that were purchased by Canadians at Christmas in 2023, which is 46% of the whole Turkey Market. I’m expecting very similar numbers this year.”
Statistics from 2023 show there were 513 Turkey Farms in Canada, Quebec and Ontario having the largest number. Manitoba has 49, Alberta 41 and Saskatchewan has 11 registered producers.
Thanksgiving and Christmas are the two biggest seasons for turkey consumption, but over the last few years the industry has launched a campaign to broaden that reach.
Ferrance says more and more people are now eating turkey throughout the year.
“We’re five years into a marketing plan, trying to drive everyday use of turkey, from parts to burgers to sausages to doing some small whole turkeys or turkey breast on Sundays. The campaign has been going quite well. We’ve seen an uptrend in a lot of our pieces and hopefully we can keep moving that forward. We’re trying to outgrow the CPTPP and the CUSMA deals that give away some of our turkey market into some import product.”
-With files from Glenda Lee Vossler
