The Best Thing That Happened This Week: The Great Turkey Recovery of 2015
Chances are you weren’t paying much attention this past spring when the worst outbreak of avian flu in the nation’s history wiped out 48 million birds, mostly in the Midwest. The cost to poultry farmers in Iowa alone was estimated to be $957 million. “Our industry has been turned upside down,” Randy Olson, executive director of the Iowa Poultry Association, lamented to Fortune magazine. Ah, but you were grilling ribs and burgers, so what did you care?
But now, the one time out of the year when a big ol’ bird is de rigueur — now you might be thinking about avian flu, as you head to the grocery store to buy the fixings for your Thanksgiving feast. So, what’s the deal? Will you — heaven forbid! — have to settle for a spiral-sliced ham?
Nah. This is America! And any nation that can put a man on the moon can put a juicy turkey on your holiday platter. Despite ominous warnings of a turkey shortage, thanks to a combination of Midwestern resiliency and a federal program that compensates farmers for losses due to flu, not only can you buy a bird; you’ll actually pay an average of 90 cents a pound for the frozen variety, or a penny less than you did last year. (And if you pluck yours from Walmart? Just 64 cents per pound.) What a country! All of which reminds us that if Philly’s Ben Franklin had had his way, it would have been a turkey swooping down out of the sky into the Linc last Sunday. Which, uh, would have been most appropriate.
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