While there are many ways to celebrate Thanksgiving, many people will have enjoyed sitting down to a nice juicy turkey.
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.
Chair of the Turkey Farmers of Canada Darren Ference says more and more people are now eating whole turkeys or turkey parts throughout the year.
Stats show last year at Thanksgiving, there were 2.1 million whole turkeys purchased, which is 37 per cent of the whole bird market. There were 2.6 million kilograms of whole turkeys that were purchased by Canadians at Christmas in 2023, which is 46 per cent of the whole Turkey market.
When it comes to processing, there are a number of facilities across the prairies.
"There's Prairie Pride and Lilydale products that are done out of Saskatchewan, Lilydale and Sunrise at Alberta, and there is Granny's or Butterball that is done and processed in Manitoba."
When it comes to production the turkey industry has rebounded from the losses experienced a few years ago with HPAI.
Stats show in 2023 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.
He says the inventories are actually a little higher because the producers did a really good job of managing their quota and and getting it produced in that year. But it comes in at a different time with a different type of product. So there's a few more at the moment.
"About 178 million total kilograms of turkey produced in the country. In Manitoba, there's about 13 million kilograms produced, in Alberta its about 19 million kilograms produced, and there's about 6 1/2 million kilograms in Saskatchewan."
Ference notes turkey isn't just for Thanksgiving or Christmas anymore, people are reaching for turkey throughout the year.
To hear Glenda-Lee's conversation with Darren Ference click on the link below.