Date of Award:

5-1953

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Applied Economics

Department name when degree awarded

Agricultural Economics

Committee Chair(s)

Roice H. Anderson

Committee

Roice H. Anderson

Abstract

The production of turkeys comprises an important part of the cash farm income in Utah. In 1951 the cash receipts from turkeys amounted to $13,986,000, or 7.4 percent of the cash income from all farm commodities (4). In the year 1951 Utah ranked seventh in the nation in turkey production (5). The production of turkeys has risen from a humble beginning to one of the important agriculture enterprises in Utah.

Whereas a portion of the crop can be marketed at home, approximately 90 percent of the turkeys must be shipped to eastern markets. The Utah Turkey Federation, together with the National Turkey Federation, has conducted various programs to increase the consumption of turkey. Not only are the producers of turkeys interested in the sale of more turkeys, but they share in a national problem of how to sell greater quantities of turkey throughout the year. In years past, the processing and sale of turkey was largely confined to the last three months of the year. The processing of turkeys is still largely confined to the closing months of each year, but there has been a change in the pattern of consumption.

In recent years a greater amount of turkey remains in storage after the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays which must be consumed before the new crop is ready to be processed. During the 1930's about 8 percent of each year's turkey crop was in storage on February 1 (table 1). In the period since 1940, the percentage in storage on February 1 has been about twice as high as the period 1934 to 1939. The actual pounds of turkey in storage on February 1 in recent years has been more than five times as great as it was during the 30's. In the past turkey has been traditionally used as a holiday item, but recently considerable promotional work has been done to increase the consumption of turkey following the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

There are various channels by which turkeys are processed and marketed in the state of Utah. Approximately 90 percent of Utah's turkey crop is sold outside of the state. Some of the processing plants are concerned mainly with the sale and shipment of turkeys out of the state. A number of the plants perform the processing function, and in addition wholesale turkey to local stores and restaurants. There are seven cooperative processing plants and seven fairly large-sized independent processors of turkey in Utah. In addition there are five small, independent processors who sell primarily to local retail stores or directly to the consumer. Most of the latter are large producers who do their own processing. Through these sources turkeys are available in all major Utah cities, and can be purchased at any time during the year in quantities of one bird or more.

Turkey reaches the consumer via various marketing agencies, namely: retail grocery stores, hotels and restaurants, cold storage lockers and food plants. Efforts have been made to expand the sale of turkeys by year-around sales and sale of turkey other than as whole birds through these agencies. This study deals only with sales of turkey through retail stores.

Checksum

313eafc6784be3de6425baa29860ace5

Download

Share

COinS

Copyright for this work is retained by the student. If you have any questions regarding the inclusion of this work in the Digital Commons, please email us at .