Turkey Farmers Lose Out on Thanksgiving Rally as Corn Costs Rise
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Near-record prices for Thanksgiving turkeys may do little to boost profit for some U.S. producers after a surge in spending on feed grain.
The average cost of corn, the primary feed ingredient, jumped 58 percent this year from 2010 and is headed for an all-time high, erasing the benefit of retail turkeys that the government says averaged $1.59 a pound this year, up 6.4 percent from last year. About 70 percent of the cost of raising each bird is feed, farmers say.