October 29, 2009

Gobble it up! Order your Virginia turkey in time for the holidays

RICHMOND—You can make sure your Thanksgiving turkey doesn’t have to trot far by buying local this holiday season. But order now to have it in time for the big feast.

Many poultry farms that sell directly to consumers allow shoppers to place orders online, over the phone or right at the farm.

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services maintains a directory of farms, farm stands and farmers’ markets at virginiagrown.com that consumers can search to find locally raised turkeys and other products. It also allows consumers to search for niche products like free-range or organic turkeys.

For those consumers looking for specialty turkeys, localharvest.org provides information on heritage breeds grown in Virginia.

Tony Banks, a commodity marketing specialist for Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, noted that shoppers should be prepared to pay more for distinctive birds.

“There are a lot of different turkeys that are grown in Virginia,” he said. “There are certainly those heritage breeds that are going to cost you more. Some commercial brands do use Virginia turkeys, but it’s going to take some digging to find out which ones do.”

Poultry products are among Virginia’s top agricultural commodities. Turkeys are the state’s fourth-ranked commodity in terms of sales and generated more than $271 million in cash receipts in 2008, according to the Virginia office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Virginia’s turkey industry employs an estimated 3,000 people and is the economic backbone for more than 300 family farms.

Contact Banks at 804-290-1114 or Veronica Rohrmoser, VFBF video intern, at 804-290-1145.