List of turkey meat producing companies in the United States

The United States is the world largest exporter of turkey and related products. Nearly 361,884 metric tons (MT) of turkey meat has been exported in 2012. In comparison with 2011, the industry had experienced 14 percent growth. In 2013 the turkey products were valued at nearly $678.9 million. 13 percent increase from 2012.

The dominant market for U.S. turkey meat is Mexico. It has been purchasing meat valued at nearly $372.6 million and accounting for 55 percent of turkey exports. The second largest market for U.S. turkey, purchasing more than $70.5 million of meat, is China. Canada and Hong Kong were other significant markets for U.S. turkey meat. (FAS 2012)

The United States imports a notably small percent of turkey meat ($31.8 million in 2012), mostly from Chile and Canada. (FAS 2012)^[1]

There is a list of turkey meat producing companies in the United States.

Butterball, LLC

Butterball is a brand of turkey and other poultry products produced by Butterball LLC. The company manufactures food products in the United States and internationally — specializing in turkey, cured deli meats, raw roasts and specialty products such as soups and salads, sandwiches, and entrées.

Butterball LLC was a joint venture of Smithfield Foods and Maxwell Farms Inc.,^[2] an affiliate of the Goldsboro Milling Co.^[3] Seaboard Corporation bought Smithfield's stake in Butterball in 2010. The company sells over one billion pounds of turkey a year. Though the Butterball brand has been formally recognized since 1940, Butterball LLC was formed in 2006.

The company, located southeast of Raleigh, NC in Mount Olive, North Carolina on the Wayne and Duplin county line, subsequently renamed itself Butterball LLC.^[4]

In Canada, the rights to Butterball is owned by P&H Foods.

Jennie-O Turkey Store

Jennie-O Turkey Store is a brand name of turkey products. It is now a subsidiary of the Hormel Foods Corporation in Willmar, Minnesota.^[5]

The company was founded by Earl B. Olson in 1940, when he began raising turkeys. In 1949, he bought the former Farmers Produce Company of Willmar and its turkey processing plant.^[6] In 1953, it was renamed to Jennie-O after his daughter, Jennifer Olson.

Jennie-O has a total of six company locations, five of which are in Minnesota and one in Wisconsin.^[7] The Minnesota locations include Willmar/Spicer, Faribault, Montevideo, Pelican Rapids, and Melrose. The only Wisconsin plant is found in Barron.

Dakota Provisions

Dakota Provisions was set up by Dakota Turkey Growers, a major farmers' cooperative of 44 independent Hutterite (a religious group similar to the Amish who have adopted modern manufacturing as a way to survive) turkey farmers in North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota, USA. It is a state-of-the-art turkey processing facility and the first full-line turkey facility to be built in the US since the late 1980s.^[8][9]

Ken Rutledge became a President of Dakota Provisions.

Production facility is Situated on 114 acres two miles east of Huron, SD. It was designed to process more than 8 million turkeys per year more than 320 million pounds of live weight annually.^[10]

Cargill Value Added Meats

Cargill has a long, rich heritage, starting with W. W. Cargill's first grain storage facility on the American frontier in 1865. The company has grown to become one of the largest privately owned businesses, providing food, agricultural, risk management, financial, and industrial products and services around the globe. It has employees in 68 countries.^[11]

Mary Thompson was tapped to lead the company’s European poultry business as president of Cargill Value-Added Meats.^[12]

The headquarters is located in Wichita, KS.

Farbest Foods, Inc.

Farbest Foods is concerned to be one of the largest turkey companies in the United States and a respected leader in the industry. Farbest Foods’ processing plants are in Huntingburg and Vincennes, Indiana. Utilizing more than 400,000 square feet in two processing plants and two distribution centers, Farbest Foods processes nearly 15 million live turkeys each year. It cooperatess with domestic and foreign markets shipping up to two million pounds of fresh and frozen turkey products every day.^[13]

Ted J. Seger is at the head of the company.

Cooper Farms

Cooper Farms has a long history which was founded by Virgil Cooper. He made his start in the turkey business in 1938 in downtown Oakwood, Ohio through growing around 500 meat turkeys, mainly for the holidays. Cooper Farms is one of the largest family owned turkey producers in the U.S. James R. Cooper is current president of the company.^[14]

Foster Farms

Foster Farms is a United States West Coast poultry company. The company has been privately owned and operated by the Foster family since 1939. The company is based in Livingston, California, with operations throughout the West Coast and a few on the East Coast. The company specializes in a variety of chicken and turkey products advertised as fresh and naturally locally grown.^[15]

Today Max and Verda's grandson, Ron Foster, is the company's CEO. He worked with his grandfather for 23 years and now oversees Foster Farms' more than 10,000 employees.^[16]

Hain Pure Protein Corp.

The company was founded in 1929 and is based in Fredericksburg, Pennsylvania. Hain Pure Protein Corporation owns and operates poultry processing facilities with Joseph A. DePippo at the head.^[17] Hain Pure Protein Corporation is a leader in growing natural, antibiotic-free poultry produced under well-known brands that include FreeBird, Plainville Farms, and Epicurean Farms.^[18]

Koch’s Turkey Farm

Roscoe and Emma Koch first started raising turkeys on the family farm in 1939. The Koch's Turkey Farm was founded by their son Lowell and his wife Elizabeth in 1953. The farm is based in the Lewistown Valley outside of Tamaqua, PA.^[19] Duane L. Koch, representative of the third generation of the Koch family, runs Koch’s Turkey.^[20]

Koch's has been a pioneer in being one of the first to grow antibiotic-free turkeys with an all vegetarian diet. Farm raises over 800,000 turkeys annually.^[21]

Kraft Foods, Inc./Oscar Mayer

Oscar F. Mayer, a 14-year-old immigrant from the region of Bavaria, Germany arrives in the United States in 1873 and obtains work as a helper in a Detroit, Michigan butcher shop.^[22] In 1919, the company made its first major expansion, with the purchase of a processing plant in Madison, Wisconsin. The plant quickly proved to be a profitable, efficient operation and eventually Madison became the corporate headquarters.

The Oscar Mayer Company is an American meat and cold cut production company, owned by Kraft Foods.

House of Raeford Farms, Inc.

House of Raeford Farms, Inc. is a family owned, fully integrated poultry company with processing facilities located throughout the southeastern United States.^[23] Robert B. Johnson serves as Chief Executive Officer and President of House of Raeford Farms, Inc.^[24]

Headquartered in Rose Hill, North Carolina, company operates poultry grow out operations and processing facilities in four southeastern states.^[25]

Jaindl Turkey Sales, Inc.

Jaindl Turkey Farms is the largest independent agricultural operation in the Lehigh Valley, located in Orefield, Pennsylvania. Company produces approximately 750,000 turkeys each year.^[26] David M. Jaindl is the owner and President of Jaindl Farms.

Norbest, Inc. (Moroni Feed Company)

Norbest is a federated marketing cooperative dealing exclusively with turkeys and value-added turkey products. It is the oldest cooperative organization of its type in the world, and is one of the top turkey marketing firms in the United States.

Norbest products are sold throughout the United States as well as in Pacific Rim countries, Mexico, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. Membership in the Norbest cooperative has changed a few times over the 69 years of its existence, as local farmer co-ops have merged, dissolved, or changed focus. Today the members of the Norbest, Inc. cooperative are Moroni Feed Company in central Utah.^[27]

Northern Pride Turkey

Northern Pride, Inc is a grower owned turkey processing facility located in Thief River Falls, Minnesota. The cooperative was formed in 1989 by independent turkey growers throughout Northern Minnesota and North Dakota.

Northern Pride, Inc. processes approximately 40 million live pounds of turkey annually. In an average processing day, Northern Pride will process around 20,000 turkeys per day.

Turkeys and turkey products produced by Northern Pride are sold and distributed to customers across the U.S. and several foreign countries.^[28]

Perdue Farms, Inc.

Perdue Farms is the parent company of Perdue Foods and Perdue AgriBusiness, based in Salisbury, Maryland. Perdue Foods is a major chicken, turkey, and pork processing company in the United States. Perdue AgriBusiness ranks among the top United States grain companies. Perdue Farms has annual sales in excess of $6 billion.^[29]

The company was founded in 1920 by Arthur Perdue^[30] with his wife, Pearl Perdue, who had been keeping a small flock of chickens.^[31]

Now it is leading poultry producer in the northeast United States and the second largest across the nation, Perdue Farms Inc. sells chicken and turkey products through retail venues and to food-service companies in the United States and in more than 30 countries worldwide.^[32]

James A. Perdue has been the Chairman of Perdue Farms, Incorporated since 1991 and serves as its Chief Executive Office.^[33]

Virginia Poultry Growers Cooperative, Inc. (VPGC)

VPGC was incorporated in the summer of 2004. However, the farmers that make up the cooperative have been growing turkeys for decades.^[34]

Prestage Farms

Today Prestage Farms and its affiliates produce in excess of one billion pounds of turkey and pork annually. The company employs some 1,800 associates and contracts with over 400 farm families.^[35]

West Liberty Foods, L.L.C.

West Liberty Foods, L.L.C. is a US meat processing company owned by the Iowa Turkey Growers Cooperative and formed in 1996^[36] by a group of Iowa turkey growers,^[37] and now owns four meat processing plants.^[38] The company mainly produces products for customers to sell under their own brand names.^[37] As of 2006, West liberty Foods was the 12th largest turkey company in the United States.^[39]

Zacky Farms LLC

Zacky Farms LLC is an American food production company in California. It was incorporated in 1955 by Sam Zacky's family and developed by his three sons—Harry, Al and Bob—from retail to wholesale. Its primary factory is located in Central California.

Top Turkey Processors, 2015

Liveweight Processed (Million Pounds)*^[40]

Butterball, LLC	1,365.0
Jennie-O Turkey Store, Inc.	1,175.0
Cargill Turkey & Cooked Meats	1,000.0
Farbest Foods, Inc.	582.0
Tyson Foods	318.0
Perdue Farms	284.0
Kraft Heinz Company	267.0
Virginia Poultry Growers Coop.	267.0
Foster Farms	231.7
West Liberty Foods, LLC	216.58
Cooper Farms	215.0
Michigan Turkey Producers	202.0
Dakota Provisions	185.0
Hain Pure Protein	170.0
Prestage Farms	147.0
Turkey Valley Farms	142.6
Norbest, Inc. (Moroni Feed Co.)	106.0
Zackey Farms, LLC	68.3
Northern Pride Turkey	44.0
White Water Processing Co.	30.0
Empire Kosher Poultry, Inc.	25.2
Koch's Turkey Farm	18.15
Jaindl Turkey Sales, Inc.	11.0

External links

• http://www.sustainabletable.org/279/food-processing-slaughterhouses
• http://plainvillefarms.com/

References