It will cost you about the same to gobble up your Thanksgiving Day turkey dinner this year as it did last year.

“Our meal for 10 people that includes a 16-pound turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberries, relish tray, pumpkin pie… the whole nine yards… this year we think is going to cost us $49.48. And that’s only about 28 cents more than we were last year,” explained Bob Young, economist for the American Farm Bureau Federation during an interview at Trade Talk at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting convention. That translates to less than a 1-percent price increase… not too bad when you consider how some commodity prices spiked due to the drought. In fact, Young pointed out that about the only thing that went up in the Thanksgiving basket was the price of the turkey, increasing just 4 cents a pound. “Given what feed prices did this year, that’s a pretty amazing thing.” Dairy products with the meal actually went down in cost, as farmers in that sector suffered the effects of the drought.

Young went on to point out that overall, the value of the U.S. crop this year increased from this summer’s estimates from about $63-65 billion to today’s $85 billion, because of the high prices when estimates pushed prices for the commodities up and then harvests turned out better than expected. He said while some sectors really took a hit from the drought, such as dairy and hogs, some areas that got good corn crops enjoyed quite a windfall from the higher prices.

Read more about AFBF’s Thanksgiving dinner estimates here.

Listen to Cindy’s interview with Bob where he also discusses the impact of the drought this year and concerns about an increase in the estate tax: Interview with Bob Young, AFBF economist

2012 NAFB Convention Photo Album