Minnesota is number one in the country for its turkey production. In fact, there are more turkeys in this state than humans. Minnesota is expected to raise almost 50 million turkeys by the end of this year, nearly one fifth of the nation’s total. A lot of this is driven by Jennie-O, which is headquartered in Austin, MN as a subsidiary of Hormel. In May, Hormel Foods had its largest acquisition deal ever when it acquired Applegate Farms, a maker of natural and organic meats, for about $775 million.

1. Minneapolis–St. Paul
Minnesota is thankful for its large turkey
economy this Thanksgiving
Chart of the week: November 23, 2015
• Minnesota is number one in the country for its turkey production. In fact, there are more turkeys in this
state than humans. Minnesota is expected to raise almost 50 million turkeys by the end of this year,
nearly one fifth of the nation’s total. A lot of this is driven by Jennie-O, which is headquartered in Austin,
MN as a subsidiary of Hormel. In May, Hormel Foods had its largest acquisition deal ever when it
acquired Applegate Farms, a maker of natural and organic meats, for about $775 million.
• Minnesota is also first in the nation for its total production of sugar beets used for sugar, and produces
about half of all wild rice cultivated in the US.
Sources: JLL Research, MetricMaps, USDA
Inventory of turkey & humans 2012