Fresh turkeys could be in short supply over holidays

A major P.E.I. poultry producer says demand is stronger than normal this year.

Paul Larkin, co-owner of Larkin Brothers in New Glasgow, said they never sell out at Christmas, but this year is different. 

He said 40 to 50 per cent of their market is for fresh birds for Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. They sell to individual customers as well as the major grocery stores.

Normally they produce about 3,500 birds, and as of Monday about 3,200 are already sold. One theory could be that with COVID-19 restrictions, more people will be cooking turkeys with smaller groups.

"I think a lot of people will be cooking at home with these smaller groups, which means at the end of the day, I think that anybody that is growing for the Christmas market will probably be sold out," he said.

"That's good. But that's not good for the consumer that's looking for a fresh product."

Larkin said the temporary closure of a poultry processing plant in Nova Scotia due to COVID-19  won't impact his operation, other than perhaps increasing demand even further.

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