List of turkey meat producing companies in the United States

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

Contents

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% 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 percentage of turkey meat ($31.8 million in 2012), mostly from Chile and Canada. (FAS 2012) [1]

This 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.[ citation needed ] Though the Butterball brand has been formally recognized since 1940, Butterball LLC was formed in 2006.

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

In Canada, the rights to Butterball are owned by Exceldor Foods.

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. [5]

Mary Thompson was tapped to lead the company's European poultry business as president of Cargill Value Added Meats. [6] The headquarters are located in Wichita, Kansas.

Cooper Farms

Cooper Farms 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 the president of the company. [7]

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. 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] Jordan Woodbury is the president of Dakota Provisions.

The production facility is situated on 114 acres (46 hectares), two miles (three kilometers) east of Huron, South Dakota. It was designed to process more than 8 million turkeys per year, more than 320 million pounds of live weight annually. [10]

Farbest Foods, Inc.

Farbest Foods is 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. Using 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 co-operates with domestic and foreign markets, shipping up to two million pounds of fresh and frozen turkey products every day. [11] Ted J. Seger is at the head of the company.

Foster Farms

Foster Farms is an American 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. [12] 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. [13]

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. [14] Hain Pure Protein Corporation is a leader in growing natural, antibiotic-free poultry produced under well-known brands that include FreeBird and Epicurean Farms. [15]

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. [16] Robert B. Johnson serves as CEO and president of House of Raeford Farms, Inc. [17]

Headquartered in Rose Hill, North Carolina, company operates poultry grow out operations and processing facilities in four southeastern states. [18]

Jaindl Turkey Sales, Inc.

Jaindl Turkey Farms is the largest independent agricultural operation in the Lehigh Valley, located in Orefield, Pennsylvania. The company produces about 750,000 turkeys each year. [19] David M. Jaindl is the owner and president of Jaindl Farms.

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. [20]

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. [21] 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. [22] The Minnesota locations include Willmar/Spicer, Faribault, Montevideo, Pelican Rapids, and Melrose. The only Wisconsin plant is found in Barron.

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, Pennsylvania. [23] Brock C. Stein, representative of the fourth generation of the Koch family, runs Koch's Turkey. [24] Koch's has been one of the first to grow antibiotic-free turkeys with an all-vegetarian diet. The farms raise over 800,000 turkeys annually. [25]

Kraft Foods, Inc./Oscar Mayer

The Oscar Mayer Company is an American meat and cold cut production company, owned by Kraft Foods. They entered the turkey business by purchasing Louis Rich and Co. in the early 1980s.

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 and 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. [26]

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 around 40 million live pounds of turkey annually. In an average processing day, Northern Pride processes 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. [27]

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. [28] The company was founded in 1920 by Arthur Perdue [29] with his wife, Pearl Perdue, who had been keeping a small flock of chickens. [30]

Now, it is leading poultry producer in the northeast United States and the second-largest across the nation, and Perdue Farms Inc. sells chicken and turkey products through retail venues and to foodservice companies in the United States and in more than 30 countries worldwide. [31]

James A. Perdue has been the chairman of Perdue Farms since 1991 and serves as its CEO. [32]

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. [33]

Virginia Poultry Growers Cooperative, Inc. (VPGC)

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

West Liberty Foods, LLC

West Liberty Foods, LLC is an American meat-processing company owned by the Iowa Turkey Growers Cooperative and formed in 1996 [35] by a group of Iowa turkey growers, [36] and now owns four meat processing plants. [37] The company mainly produces products for customers to sell under their own brand names. [36] As of 2006, West liberty Foods was the 12th-largest turkey company in the United States. [38]

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)* [39]

Butterball, LLC1,365.0
Jennie-O Turkey Store, Inc.1,175.0
Cargill Turkey & Cooked Meats1,000.0
Farbest Foods, Inc.582.0
Tyson Foods 318.0
Perdue Farms284.0
Kraft Heinz Company 267.0
Virginia Poultry Growers Coop.267.0
Foster Farms231.7
West Liberty Foods, LLC216.58
Cooper Farms215.0
Michigan Turkey Producers202.0
Dakota Provisions185.0
Hain Pure Protein170.0
Prestage Farms147.0
Turkey Valley Farms142.6
Norbest, Inc. (Moroni Feed Co.)106.0
Zackey Farms, LLC68.3
Northern Pride Turkey44.0
White Water Processing Co.30.0
Empire Kosher Poultry, Inc.25.2
Koch's Turkey Farm18.15
Jaindl Turkey Sales, Inc.11.0

Former turkey meat producing companies

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hormel Foods</span> American food processing company

Hormel Foods Corporation, commonly known as Hormel Foods or simply Hormel, is an American food processing company founded in 1891 in Austin, Minnesota, by George A. Hormel as George A. Hormel & Company. The company originally focused on the packaging and selling of ham, sausage and other pork, chicken, beef and lamb products to consumers, adding Spam in 1937. By the 1980s, Hormel began offering a wider range of packaged and refrigerated foods. The company changed its name to Hormel Foods Corporation in 1993 and uses the Hormel brand on many of its products; the company's other brands include Planters, Columbus Craft Meats, Dinty Moore, Jennie-O, and Skippy. The company's products are available in over 80 countries worldwide.

Land O'Lakes, Inc. is an American member-owned agricultural cooperative based in the Minneapolis-St. Paul suburb of Arden Hills, Minnesota, United States, focusing on the dairy industry. The cooperative has 1,959 direct producer-members, 751 member-cooperatives, and about 9,000 employees who process and distribute products for about 300,000 agricultural producers, handling 12 billion pounds of milk annually. It is ranked third on the National Cooperative Bank Co-op 100 list of mutuals and cooperatives. The co-op is one of the largest producers of butter and cheese in the United States through its dairy foods business; serves producers, animal owners and their families through more than 4,700 local cooperatives, independent dealers and other large retailers through its Purina Animal Nutrition business; and delivers seed, crop protection products, agricultural services and agronomic insights to 1,300 locally owned and operated cooperative and independent agricultural retailers and their grower customers through its WinField United business.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cargill</span> American-based international food conglomerate

Cargill, Incorporated, is an American global food corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and incorporated in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded in 1865, it is the largest privately held company in the United States in terms of revenue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tyson Foods</span> American food company

Tyson Foods, Inc. is an American multinational corporation based in Springdale, Arkansas that operates in the food industry. The company is the world's second-largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork after JBS S.A. It annually exports the largest percentage of beef out of the United States. Together with its subsidiaries, it operates major food brands, including Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, Ball Park, Wright Brand, Aidells, and State Fair. Tyson Foods ranked No. 79 in the 2020 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Butterball</span> Brand of turkey

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JBS USA</span> American meat processor

JBS USA Holdings, Inc. is a meat processing company and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Brazilian multinational JBS S.A. The subsidiary was created when JBS entered the U.S. market in 2007 with its purchase of Swift & Company.

Seaboard Corporation is a diverse multinational agribusiness and transportation conglomerate with integrated operations in several industries. In the United States, the company mainly engages in pork production and processing and ocean transportation. Internationally, Seaboard is primarily engaged in commodity merchandising, grain processing, sugar production and electrical power generation. The parent company, Seaboard Corporation is based in the Kansas City suburb of Merriam, Kansas. Its subsidiaries include Seaboard Foods, Seaboard Marine, Seaboard Overseas & Trading Group (SOTG), Tabacal Agroindustria, Transcontinental Capital Corporation, Ltd. (TCCB), and Mount Dora Farms. It has 52.5% controlling interest in Butterball, LLC. Its principal operating divisions are pork, commodity trading and milling, marine, sugar, and power. More than 50% of the corporation is owned by members of its founding family, the Breskys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allen Family Foods</span> American food processor

Allen Family Foods was a large American producer and exporter of chicken, headquartered in Seaford, Delaware. Founded in 1919 by Charles C. Allen and Nellie G. Allen as a small local hatchery. At one time Allen Family Foods was the world's 18th-largest producer of chicken products, producing 10.5 million pounds of finished products per week. Their network of 500 independent growers houses 25 million chickens at any given time. It employed 3,400 people in three states, with an annual payroll of $90 million. under the slogan is "The Quality Chicken People".

West Liberty Foods, L.L.C. is a farmer-owned food company headquartered in West Liberty, Iowa. Recognized as one of the top 50 protein processors in North America, the company has the capacity to produce over 650 million pounds of food products per year across four facilities. According to The National Provisioner, West Liberty Foods is the 34th largest meat and poultry processor in the United States.

Smithfield Foods, Inc., is a pork producer and food-processing company based in Smithfield, Virginia. It operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Chinese-owned conglomerate WH Group. Founded in 1936 as the Smithfield Packing Company by Joseph W. Luter and his son, the company is the largest pig and pork producer in the world. In addition to owning over 500 farms in the US, Smithfield contracts with another 2,000 independent farms around the country to raise Smithfield's pigs. Outside the US, the company has facilities in Mexico, Poland, Romania, Germany, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. Globally the company employed 50,200 in 2016 and reported an annual revenue of $14 billion. Its 973,000-square-foot meat-processing plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina, was said in 2000 to be the world's largest, slaughtering 32,000 pigs a day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perdue Farms</span> American meat processing company

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 2021 annual sales of $8 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faccenda Foods</span>

Faccenda Foods Limited is a privately owned UK business established in 1962 by Robin Faccenda, which supplies fresh poultry products.

Foster Farms is an American poultry company. The company has been privately owned since 1939. It was operated by the Foster family since 1939 until recently, now operated and owned by Atlas Holdings, after their purchase of the company in 2022. The company is based in Livingston, California. Operations are concentrated on the West Coast, but the company also maintains a small number of locations on the East Coast. The company specializes in a variety of chicken and turkey products advertised as fresh and naturally locally grown.

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