Urban Ecoist

Honestly, I think that is what Thanksgiving is all about — sustainability. The newly arrived, brass buckled English at Plymouth Rock had to learn that pretty quickly anyway.  It started out as then and still is a harvest festival, and to have a harvest year after decade after century, one must be sustainable.  Do your part even if you are not a farmer. Support the sustainable farmer.  Instead think of yourself as a pilgrim to brighter shores, a newcomer to an age of environmental awareness, a refugee to the land of green, a — ok, I’ll stop.

Today let’s talk Turkey.

Let’s face it, Americans love turkey for Thanksgiving. I am not exception. However, once I got older, I noticed that the dry turkey my mom made every year was not exactly her fault. She bought the brands she knew, namely Butterball. Granted, some years, it turned out pretty good, but I never really got into the Thanksgiving turkey thing (sorry, Mom).

Then I had wild turkey. And suddenly, turkey was good. I got it. But I still don’t get why so many people still go for the factory birds. My mom was a product of the 1950’s agricultural… cough, revolution that lead to the rise of the factory farm, so she could not really help it. Marketing works. It was funny that my parents were big farmers market people for produce, but didn’t know jack about where meat came from. And I don’t think it was just my parents. Americans have been kept in the dark when it comes to how our meats are produced, and most Americans liked it that way. Now, you have to look for organic, and free range, and no antibiotics.

Well, there’s a reason for that.

Even if you don’t want to get all hippie on the checklist of environmental buzz words, if there is any more compelling a reason to go with an organic turkey, I cannot think of it. Taste. Turkeys are not meant to be confined to cages. Turkeys are not meant to be so breast-heavy that the bird cannot reproduce without artificial insemination. Turkeys are not meant to be injected with oils and salt water in order to taste better.

The less you do to a turkey, the better it will taste. Turkeys are meant to cover a wide area, eating grubs and insects and small plants that turkeys eat. When you taste a turkey that is raised outside of the factory farm system, you will be a convert. Be careful not to fall for the word “natural” on the label. Look for the organic certification on the label. Unless you happen to get your turkey at a small local farm, since sometimes the smaller farms will not pay the cost of getting certified, and instead rely on talking to customers directly about their farming practices rather than a logo on a package.

Also, besides taste and flavor, there are other reasons to go organic. Factory farms feed their turkeys grain, which is grown with the use of unsustainable and ultimately detrimental farming practices, such as pesticides and genetically modified seed. The antibiotics that those turkeys are given ultimately end up in the water system.

And if you get your turkey from a local source, you can count on the fact that less fuel was needed to get that turkey to your table.

Factory Turkey Stats
Top 10 Turkey Producing States in 2007 (in order)

* Minnesota
* North Carolina
* Arkansas
* Virginia
* Missouri
* California
* Indiana
* Pennsylvania
* South Carolina
* Iowa

Top U.S. Turkey Processors
Live Weight Processed (Million Pounds) *
Butterball, LLC 1375
Jennie-O Turkey Store 1255
Cargill Value Added Meats 1112

*Estimates for 2007 from February 2008 Watt Poultry USA

The next farm on the list produces only 271 million pounds of turkey, which is still a lot, but Butterball, Jennie-O and Cargill are the big boys. I would avoid their products in general, and if you really care about your family and loves ones, give them a real feast on Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving, sustainability, sustainable, feast, farmers, farm, factory, turkey, turkeys, organic, natural, Plymouth Rock, harvest, pilgrim, Butterball, Jennie-O, Cargill