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October 23, 2025
The famous holiday bird is projected to get a price hike as high as 40% ahead of Thanksgiving
Excerpt:
CNET received data from industry watchdog Farm Forward that reveals the scale of the crisis. Approximately 3 million turkeys have died due to Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, or HPAI, so far this year. That's already more than double the total bird flu deaths in 2024 (1.25 million), but still far less than the furious 2022 epidemic that killed over 9 million.
According to government data, this loss -- representing roughly 1.45% of the total US turkey flock -- is driving wholesale turkey prices up more than 26% from last year. Other projections, including from Bernt Nelson, an economist at the American Farm Bureau Federation who spoke to The New York Times, have the jump in turkey prices closer to 40%.
As reported by Axios, the US turkey flock is at a 40-year low. According to the USDA, just 4.8 billion pounds of production is expected, down 5% from 2024.
An accelerating outbreak
The spread of HPAI has accelerated dramatically in recent months, just ahead of the critical holiday season:
continued: https://www.cnet.com/home/turkey-pri...-what-we-know/
The famous holiday bird is projected to get a price hike as high as 40% ahead of Thanksgiving
Excerpt:
CNET received data from industry watchdog Farm Forward that reveals the scale of the crisis. Approximately 3 million turkeys have died due to Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, or HPAI, so far this year. That's already more than double the total bird flu deaths in 2024 (1.25 million), but still far less than the furious 2022 epidemic that killed over 9 million.
According to government data, this loss -- representing roughly 1.45% of the total US turkey flock -- is driving wholesale turkey prices up more than 26% from last year. Other projections, including from Bernt Nelson, an economist at the American Farm Bureau Federation who spoke to The New York Times, have the jump in turkey prices closer to 40%.
As reported by Axios, the US turkey flock is at a 40-year low. According to the USDA, just 4.8 billion pounds of production is expected, down 5% from 2024.
An accelerating outbreak
The spread of HPAI has accelerated dramatically in recent months, just ahead of the critical holiday season:
continued: https://www.cnet.com/home/turkey-pri...-what-we-know/