The Courier Electronic Edition

For most, Thanksgiving means turkey


Surveys indicate nearly 88 percent of Americans say they eat turkey at Thanksgiving. Typically, approximately 46 million turkeys, or one-fifth of the 235 million consumed in the United States each year, are eaten at Thanksgiving.

Turkey consumption has doubled over the past 30 years.

Minnesota, North Carolina and Arkansas are the top turkey-producing states. Ohio ranks 11th nationally with more than five million birds produced annually.

Hancock County does not have any commercial turkey farms, but Putnam County has several producing both eggs and finished birds.

In 2008, 676 million pounds of turkey were exported from the United States. Exports now comprise about 10 percent of total turkey production, compared with 1.2 percent in 1990.

In 2008, the top four export markets for U.S. turkey meat were Mexico, 358.4 million pounds; China, 85.6 million pounds; Russia, 26 million pounds; and Canada, 22 million pounds.

The modern Thanksgiving celebration in the United States originated with Lammas, a British celebration of an abundant wheat crop. On this day, farmers attended the Loaf Mass and brought loaves of bread as a token of thanks.

Early explorers to the New World quickly acquired a taste for turkey and took birds back to Europe. By the 1500s, turkeys were being raised domestically in Italy, France and England.

When the Pilgrims and other settlers arrived in America, they were already familiar with raising and eating turkey and, naturally, included it as part of their Thanksgiving feast.

The first recorded observance of Thanksgiving in America was a religious occasion that did not include the feast now associated with the holiday.

On Dec. 4, 1619, a small group of English settlers arrived at Berkeley Plantation on the James River in Virginia. In accordance with their charter, the group observed this day by giving thanks to God.

Two years later, the residents of Plymouth rejoiced because of an abundant crop and Gov. William Bradford proclaimed a three-day harvest festival.

The colonists and about 90 Indians enjoyed an enormous feast which included ducks, geese, turkey, fish, corn bread and vegetables. It is this particular feast that is usually referred to as the first Thanksgiving.

During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day for the final Thursday in November 1863. Abraham Lincoln's successors followed his example of annually declaring the final Thursday in November to be Thanksgiving.

But in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt broke with this tradition. November had five Thursdays that year and Roosevelt declared the fourth Thursday as Thanksgiving rather than the fifth one.

Since 1947, the National Turkey Federation has presented the president with a live turkey and two dressed turkeys in celebration of Thanksgiving.

The annual presentation of the National Thanksgiving Turkey to the president has become a traditional holiday ritual, helping to signal the unofficial beginning of the holiday season and providing the president an opportunity to reflect publicly on the meaning of the Thanksgiving season.

After the ceremony, the live bird retires to Disneyland to live out the rest of its years.

What many farmers are doing this week:

Working on finishing up fall tillage.

Wilson is "area leader, Maumee Valley, extension educator, agriculture and natural resources," for The Ohio State University Extension service in Findlay. He can be reached at 419-422-3851 or via e-mail at wilson.26@cfaes.osu.edu.

Wilson's radio reports with Vaun Wickerham can be heard weekdays at 5:40 a.m. and 8:55 a.m. on WFIN, at 5:43 a.m. on WKXA-FM, and at 5:28 a.m. on 106.3 The Fox.