Syracuse University Professor Warns Turkey Shortage May Impact Thanksgiving
Some experts are saying if you're the person responsible for buying the turkey for this year's Thanksgiving dinner, you might want to buy it now because if you wait too long to grab your turkey, you might not be able to find one.
Patrick Penfield is a professor of practice in supply chain management and director of Executive Education at Syracuse University Whitman School says Thanksgiving may look different this year due to a shortage in turkeys.
According to Penfield, consumers should expect to see even more food shortages this holiday season and should prepare to have to pay more for certain food items thanks to growing supply chain issues. Some of the items Penfield says will be in short supply include turkey, evaporated milk, cooking oil, canned goods, bread, and more.
Penfield explains that chain supply disruptions though the food supply chain are partially to blame. Also to blame are things in ransomware attacks with food producers, shortages of labor with food producers and grocery stores, an an increase in demand for products.
Penfield also says there are issues with “shortages of aluminum cans and glass bottles, a decrease in the wheat harvest and rising energy prices” and that all of these factors are causing the price of foot items to skyrocket and yet there is still a “a lack of inventory on grocery store shelves.”
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Department, turkey production is down and the supply of turkeys in cold storage is 20 percent below this same time in 2020. The Agriculture Department also says that poultry prices are forecast to climb 3.5 percent to 4.5 percent this year. The average price for a turkey in the United States is $1.36 a pound, but that price is expected to climb even higher as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches.