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Show Outlook for Turkey inAJtoh Unless you find some exceptional sales, turkey should cost about 10 cents per pound more this year than last year, but it should be plentiful according to Don Dobson, extension poultry specialist at Utah State University. "The economy has affected affect-ed turkey growers like everyone else in the state. Utah production is down about 15 'percent and because be-cause there is still a great m demand for turkey the price per pound has gone up a little," Dobson says. LaMont Blackham, general gener-al manager of the Moroni Feed Co-op, says nationally, turkey production is down about three percent but turkey consumption is up three percent. He says this has resulted in a net six - percent reduction in turkey inventories, which causes prices to rise. Blackham says turkey growers are getting about 71-72 cents per pound this year. The final price the consumer pays depends on how the supermarkets decide to promote., turkey this Thanksgiving. Dobson says the most plentiful birds will be the 12-14 pound hens. He says Utahns who wish to buy a home-grown turkey have the best chance of finding one under the "Norbest" label. "Utah specializes in the large torn turkey of 20 pounds or bigger, but most of these birds leave the state and end up in restaurants on the East Coast," Dobson says. |