VIDEO – Small Business Owners Urge Citizens to Buy Locally as Turkey Prices Soar: ‘Support Your Farmer’

Citizens are preparing for Thanksgiving and noticing higher prices or limited stock, even when it comes to turkey.

Butterball’s CEO said smaller turkeys could be more difficult to find this season than in previous years, Fox 8 reported Friday.

Meanwhile, Jessica Evans of Evans Family Farm in Mt. Ulla, North Carolina, believes the problem is due to labor shortages affecting nearly every industry since the coronavirus pandemic.

The family has had turkeys for the previous four seasons, and she explained how the demand for smaller birds has grown, the Fox report continued:

“People are having smaller gatherings. People aren’t traveling as much,” Evans said, adding that their target market of 10-15 pounds birds has led them to harvest their turkeys a little earlier. The demand is there, and if you’re willing to go local, the supply is there too. “We’re seeing grocery store prices go up, shopping from your local farm is not going to be much different from what you’re going to see in stores,” Evans said.

For some small business owners, turkey is a year-round money maker, according to Alex and Kassinda White of Sweet’s Turkey BBQ in Greensboro, North Carolina.

“Our main supplier, the prices are very high. So in order for us to keep our prices comparable, we’re having to go and search different areas, different prices where there are sales or where I have a relationship with another manager in another store so we can get a good deal and keep our prices comparable for our customers,” Alex White explained.

The business owners said if people are going to pay more, they should buy locally.

“Shopping local, you’re not gonna see a huge price difference that maybe you did in previous years because prices are increasing for grocery store supply. And a lot of the buying locally and direct from a farmer goes to support your farmer, which is a huge need for local farms to be able to shift and pivot to not die out,” Evans told the outlet.

Meanwhile, Food prices rose 10.5 percent compared to 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Breitbart News reported on November 12:

And the prices of turkeys are up even more than that. The weighted average price of frozen turkeys between 8 and 16 pounds rose to $1.41 per pound, a 22.6 percent gain over last year’s $1.15, according to data published Friday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Fresh turkeys, defined as those never chilled below 26 degrees, of the same size are selling for $1.47.08, which is 11.1 percent above last year’s level.

“In a note to clients, analysts at Bank of America said that the average price of a 15-pound turkey was up 25 percent year over year,” the outlet stated.

The White family said customers have been understanding of the rise in prices.

“They’re definitely understanding because they’re consumers just like we are. Everyone knows at the gas station, at the grocery store, the cost of things is rising and we’re no different,” Kassinda noted.