Editor's note: The following data was compiled by Rebecca Tippett, Director of Carolina Demography at UNC-Chapel Hill's Carolina Population Center, and Jessica Stanford is a Demographic Analyst with Carolina Demography. North Carolina’s agricultural industry contributes $84 billion to the state’s economy and employs more than 1-in-6 workers, according to the N.C. Dept. of Agriculture & Consumer Services. Two of the state’s lead agricultural products — Turkeys and sweet potatoes — today are gracing Thanksgiving tables around the state and nation
.Total poultry production – including turkeys, eggs and broiler chickens – is North Carolina’s top agricultural industry, making up 40 percent of the state’s farm income. Data from the USDA on “turkey disappearance” per capita in the United States projected a slight uptick from about 16 pounds annually from 2012-2015 to over 16.5 pounds in 2016 and 2017. As poultry consumption increases across the country and worldwide, North Carolina is likely to benefit.
Here’s what else you should know about turkeys in North Carolina:
33.5 million -- Number of birds produced by North Carolina in 2016.
1.2 billion -- Number in pounds of turkey produced in 2016 – that’s 35.9 pounds of meat per bird.
2nd -- North Carolina’s rank nationally in overall turkey production, behind Minnesota.
While North Carolina saw its peak in total production in 1993 at 62 million birds, higher production efficiency and technological advancement have had a major influence in decreases of total bird output, as more meat can be produced by a single bird.
In this instance, North Carolina ranks 2nd behind Indiana in terms of efficiency, or average meat production per bird.
14 percent -- North Carolina’s share of total turkey production, per bird, in the United States.
$993 million -- The estimate value of North Carolina’s turkey industry in 2016. That’s an additional 224 million dollars from its valuation in 2013!
590 -- Number of turkey operations with sales in 2012.
41 percent -- Share of state turkey production held by Sampson and Duplin counties in 2016. Sampson produced 8.5 million turkeys (25 percent) last year, while Duplin produced 5.2 million (16 percent). This is actually a sizable decrease from 2012, when these two counties produced over half of all of North Carolina’s turkeys.
Lenoir County -- This county saw the fastest growth in turkey production from 2015 to 2016 at roughly 10%.
1st -- North Carolina’s rank in sweet potato production. North Carolina has led the nation in sweet potato production since 1971. Our state produces nearly three times as many sweet potatoes as:California (629 million pounds), the second highest producing state; Mississippi (493 million), third highest production in 2016; followed by Louisiana (152 million). All other states combined produced just 180 million pounds of sweet potatoes in 2016.
1.7 billion -- The number of pounds of sweet potatoes produced in North Carolina in 2016. This is the largest amount ever produced and exceeds total U.S. production from just ten years prior in 2006. Although Hurricane Matthew’s threatened the state’s sweet potato crop in October 2016, much of the crop had already been harvested, preventing even greater damage.
54 percent -- The share of U.S. sweet potatoes produced in North Carolina in 2016. For the past three years, North Carolina has produced the majority of sweet potatoes in the United States.
4 -- Number of North Carolina counties that produce more sweet potatoes than the state of Louisiana. In 2016, Louisiana produced 152 million pounds of sweet potatoes, the 4th largest amount of any state. Sampson (272 million), Wilson (213 million), Nash (184 million), and Johnston (179 million) counties produced even more. (Not all counties report production values. Edgecombe County is among the state’s leading producers of sweet potatoes but did not report specific values in 2016.)
1.7 billion -- The number of pounds of sweet potatoes produced in North Carolina in 2016. This is the largest amount ever produced and exceeds total U.S. production from just ten years prior in 2006. Although Hurricane Matthew’s threatened the state’s sweet potato crop in October 2016, much of the crop had already been harvested, preventing even greater damage.
