2024 marks the 39th year the American Farm Bureau Federation has conducted its informal survey on the price of a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner.
What they discovered was, in spite of a second consecutive drop in the cost, we are still spending almost 20% more for this feast than we did in 2019, before the pandemic.
They also discovered that the cost varies greatly depending on where you live. A family in California could spend 19% more than a similar family in the Carolinas.
Thanksgiving Dinner to Cost 5% less than Last Year
We will soon be sitting down, collectively, to express our gratitude for our many blessings in this great country. As you are expressing your own thanks this year, try to remember those who make your meals possible. Bauer always likes to show its appreciation for our farmers and ranchers as well as for the banks that make loans to them. In particular, it’s our nation’s community banks that make over two-thirds of the loans needed to keep our farmers in business.
According to the FDIC Quarterly Banking Profile, total bank farm loans increased by 10.5% during the 12 months ending June 30th (from $75.7 billion to $83.7 billion). The $52.3 billion that came from community banks represented over 62% of that total. All community banks with more than $310 million outstanding in loans to U.S. Farming and Agricultural (according to the June 30, 2024 call reports) can be found on page 5.
The Kansas City Region (which consists of Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and the Dakotas) is not only home to the largest number of community banks, it also dwarfs all other regions in farm lending with $31.1 billion in ag loans outstanding (mostly from those community banks). The Dallas region comes in a distant second with $8.4 billion and the Chicago Region rounds out the top three with $7.9 billion outstanding.
The Western U.S. is also home to many farms, with the San Francisco Region generating more farm loans than the Northeast (New York) and Southeast (Atlanta) Regions combined. However, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), Thanksgiving Dinner for a party of ten will be as much as 19% more in the Western U.S. than in the South.
A Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner this year will be most affordable in the South, followed by the Northeast.
Turkey, the centerpiece of most American Thanksgiving Dinners, increased in price by almost 50% between 2020 and 2022. We can give thanks this year that, in spite of having the smallest flock of turkeys since 1985, the price of a Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner has decreased for the second year in a row.
“We should all be thankful that we live in a country with such an abundant food supply,” said AFBF President Zippy Duvall. “We are seeing modest improvements in the cost of a Thanksgiving dinner for a second year, but America’s families, including farm families, are still being hurt by high inflation.”
Indeed, even with two consecutive drops in the rate survey prices, we are still spending almost 20% more for this feast than we did in 2019, before the pandemic.
2024 marks the 39th year the AFBF has conducted this informal survey. Volunteers conducted their surveys from November 1-7, before grocery chains began widely featuring Turkey Day specials, so the price you find as the date gets closer, may even be lower.
More “food for thought” from the AFBF:
- The US contains 1.9 million farms, 95% of which are family owned and operated.
- Family farms and ranches account for 90% of our total agriculture production value.
- Farms and ranches only receive 15 cents (on average) of every retail dollar we spend on food at home and out.
- About 25% of the food Americans purchase for home is thrown away.
- 40% of all food grown and produced in the U.S. is never eaten.
Improvements are being made, but we can and should (will) do better.
