Where Does Your Thanksgiving Dinner Come From?
In partnership with: Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.
Photo credit: iStock/AlexRaths[/caption]
You can’t have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner without the classics. Roasted turkey, cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes are among the most popular and beloved staples that will grace countless tables this November. But where in America do our favorite Thanksgiving foods come from? Scroll through the slideshow below to find out.
Turkeys
American farmers raise an estimated 240 million turkeys every single year, but do you know where most of them are born and bred? Arkansas, Minnesota and California are some of the top-producing states, but Minnesota takes the cake with a whopping 44 million turkeys raised annually. This generational industry goes back decades with more than 450 family farms breeding, raising and selling turkeys each year. While the state is no stranger to raising poultry, the support of the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association and the National Turkey Improvement Plan, alongside new discoveries and advancements in preventing disease have certainly played a role in their climb to the top.
Turkey recipes to try:
See more: Top 9 Turkey Breeds Found on Farms Across the United States
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This is great! Thank you so much for this information. VERY interesting! Only one question: when it comes to everything but the turkeys, who is actually harvesting these crops? I’ve got a feeling that for these large numbers, it’s not just farmers. There must be quite of bit of immigrant assistance. Do you have any statistics on this? I just think on Thanksgiving we should be grateful for the folks in the fields who harvest our foods. Thanks!