The Top 10 Turkey-Producing States in the Country - A-Z Animals

10. Ohio

At number ten is Ohio. With several large cities, generally flat geography and a whole lot of arable land, the Buckeye State has plenty of room for turkeys. They produce 6.1 million birds per year. According to The Times Leader, out of Martin’s Ferry, OH, that’s 300 million pounds of meat.

Danville, OH, is one city known for rebranding as a heritage turkey farming hub. Ohio is the tenth largest turkey producing state but also has one of the highest wild turkey populations in the US.

9. California

Though we often think of turkeys as all coming from a picturesque forest in New England or something, they’re actually a worldwide phenomenon (including Turkey—on farms, anyway). And this includes California. The Golden State produces 6.2 million turkeys per year.

New research and some fossilized bones show us that nearby parts of the Southwestern US may have seen ancient turkey domestication. Before that, literature on the California Poultry Federation’s website tells us that the birds’ ancient ancestors may go all the way back to Asia around 2,000 BC.

There are many organically farmed options for the turkey buyer in California. They come in as the ninth highest turkey producing state.

8. Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania has more of a turkey-friendly geography; the wooded Appalachians run clear through the Keystone State. And agriculturally, this state produces 7.7 million turkeys per year.

The state apparently has some skilled turkey farmers: an Orefield, PA farm has given the White House their Thanksgiving bird for several years going back to the 1950s.

7. Iowa

Iowa certainly has a lot of agriculture, but it’s much more than corn. Interestingly, archaeologists studying the history of turkey have noted that in places in North America where they find evidence of ancient corn, it’s not uncommon to find evidence of ancient turkeys in the same area. In present times, Iowa has both turkeys and corn. The state produces 11.7 million turkeys per year.

6. Virginia

Turkey is big in Virginia, with many organic and heritage turkey options. They produce a hefty 15.3 million turkeys per year. At one time, over half of the 200 turkey farms in the Old Dominion state were in the single county of Rockingham.

5. Missouri

It’s not just the farming of turkeys that Missouri enjoys; the central and northern counties of the state bag a good number of the wild fowl during hunting season. A recent spring harvest for wild turkeys was 41,000.

But agriculturally, it’s still one of the largest turkey producing states. Missouri farmers produce 17 million of the gobblers every year.

4. Indiana

Indiana produces 20 million turkeys a year. 20 million birds, and Hoosiers have the smallest state so far! And, like Iowa, there’s plenty of corn and soy to keep the birds fed. Literature from Indiana turkey farmers tells us that the typical 30-pound turkey will consume about 75 to 80 pounds of feed to reach that size.

And the wild turkey in this state isn’t doing too bad, either. Just a few years ago, 89 of Indiana’s 92 counties tagged at least one of the hunted fowl. The fourth largest turkey producing state helped bring the wild turkey back from only 400 birds in 1977.

3. Arkansas

Agriculture in Arkansas, specifically its production of 26 million turkeys annually, is a huge deal. The party fowl is so vital to the Natural State that their governor just declared their first official Arkansas State Turkey Week.

2. North Carolina

According to recent annual figures, turkeys made the Tar Heel State almost one billion dollars—the farmed fowl number 28 million per year, comprising 14% of the country’s turkeys.

I Wanna Talk to Sampson. A cluster of counties in the state’s southeast is the turkey powerhouse, with Sampson County being the leader. Some quick math tells us that one out of roughly every thirty-three turkeys in the US comes from a single county in North Carolina. That’s a busy county in one of the largest turkey producing states.

1. Minnesota

The crown for turkey production goes to the Land of 10,000 Lakes. The Minnesota Turkey Grower’s Association alone has 600 farms as members. This mostly prairie land state, with rough but predictable weather, produces 37 million turkeys per year!