Minnesota Farmers Union Releases Farmers Share of Thanksgiving Dinner

ST. PAUL (WJON News) - The Minnesota Farmers Union says that six cents per pound of your holiday turkey actually goes to the farmer who raised it.

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The National Farmers Union tracks the farmer's share of the food dollar for five items that are commonly on a Thanksgiving table.

This year’s farmer share results:

• Turkey: $0.06 per pound (steady from last year)
• Five pounds of potatoes: $0.64/pound (was $1.30 last year)
• 16-ounce bag of frozen corn: $0.41 (was $0.44 last year)
• 12-ounce box of stuffing: $0.09 (was $0.13 last year)

Ross Hettervig is the Senior Communications Director with the National Farmers Union. He says consolidation in the food processing business is making it harder for farmers to be profitable.

The main objective of the farmer share is to show that the take-home pay for farmers and ranchers is going down year after year. A few decades ago, almost 50% of every dollar spent at the grocery store was making it into the pockets of farmers and ranchers, and that money was staying in their communities. Now that number floats around 14 cents for every dollar. So that means that there's just less money floating around in farming and ranching communities and less income for those families.

To help protect farmers and consumers, the National Farmers Union is sponsoring the Fairness for Farmers campaign, which officials say is working to solve the monopoly crisis through stronger anti-trust enforcement and greater transparency. The goal of the Fairness for Farmers campaign is to increase the farmer’s share of the food dollar and bring fairness to both farmers and consumers.

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