Grantham University Blog

Thanksgiving By the Numbers

  

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Thanksgiving is the high point of the year for several farmers and producers.  Much of their business can be attributed to this one day celebration.  Check out how Thanksgiving breaks down by the numbers. 

Production

248 million - The number of turkeys expected to be raised in the United States in 2011. (Turkey)

7.11 billion - The number of pounds of turkeys produced in 2010 weighed (Turkey)

750 million pounds - The forecast for U.S. cranberry production in 2011. (Cranberry Sauce)

2.4 billion pounds - The total weight of sweet potatoes produced by major sweet potato producing states in 2010. (Sweet Potato Casserole)

1.1   billion pounds - Total production of pumpkins in the major pumpkin-producing states in 2010. (Pumpkin Pie)

266.1 million pounds – The nation’s forcasted cherry production for 2011. (Cherry Pie)

2.01 billion bushels - The total volume of wheat produced in the United States in 2011. (Bread, Rolls, Pie Crust)

656,340 tons - The 2011 contracted production of snap (green) beans in major snap (green) bean-producing states. (Green Bean Casserole)

Consumption

13.3 pounds - The quantity of turkey consumed by the typical American in 2009, likely most consumed at Thanksgiving time. (Turkey)

5.3 pounds - Per capita sweet potato consumption. (Sweet Potato Casserole)

Economics

$4.37 billion - The value of 7.11 billion pounds of turkey produced in 2010. (Turkey)

$7.8 million - The value of U.S. imports of live turkeys from January through July of 2011. (Turkey)

$3.6 million - The United States trade deficit in live turkeys from January through July 2011. (Turkey)

$1.38 - Retail cost per pound of a frozen whole turkey in December 2010. (Turkey)

$117 million - The value of all pumpkins produced by major pumpkin-producing states. (Pumpkin Pie)

$41.7 million – The U.S. trade surplus from January through July in sweet potatoes. (Sweet Potato Casserole)

From our family here at Grantham University - Happy Thanksgiving!

For a separate Thanksgiving blog post honoring the members of the military, follow this link.

Reference links:

http://usda01.library.cornell.edu/usda/current/TurkRaisSu/TurkRaisSu-09-23-2011.pdf

http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/

http://usda01.library.cornell.edu/usda/current/Vege/Vege-09-02-2011.pdf

http://usda01.library.cornell.edu/usda/current/SmalGraiSu/SmalGraiSu-09-30-2011.pdf

http://usda01.library.cornell.edu/usda/nass/CherProd//2010s/2011/CherProd-06-23-2011.pdf

http://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/results/E8F91E0D-30B4-305E-AA3C-0ABADBFB95A2 http://usda01.library.cornell.edu/usda/current/CropProdSu/CropProdSu-01-12-2011_new_format.pdf

http://usda01.library.cornell.edu/usda/current/Cran/Cran-08-16-2011.pdf

http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/

http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/

http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/current/VegeSumm/VegeSumm-01-27-2011.pdf