Let’s talk turkey: Industry lobbying and PAC contributions are on the rise  2025

Balgarianovinite.com

Roughly 46 million turkeys are eaten on Thanksgiving Day in the United States, according to a Department of Agriculture report. This figure represents more than 20 percent of the 200 million turkeys produced nationally each year. 

One or two turkeys have historically been spared each year as part of the annual presentation of the National Thanksgiving Turkey at the White House. The official presentations began in 1947 when the National Turkey Federation presented a live turkey to President Harry S. Truman as part of a lobbying effort to promote turkey consumption in response to Truman’s “Meatless Tuesdays” and “Poultryless Thursdays” campaign. The administration had been urging Americans to conserve food for post-World War II relief efforts in Europe.

The National Turkey Federation represents the interests of nearly 300 companies involved in turkey production and distribution – about 95 percent of the industry. NFT members include the nation’s top producers of turkey, such as Butterball, Cargill Protein, Cooper Farms, Jennie-O, Perdue Farms and Tyson Foods.

The United States is the largest turkey producer in the world, accounting for approximately 44 percent of global turkey production. In 2024, the U.S. produced over 5 billion pounds of turkey with an estimated value of $3.69 billion. Of that, 486 million pounds were exported. Mexico is the largest export market for U.S. turkey products.

Over the past two decades, OpenSecrets has tracked $3.28 million in lobbying expenditures by the National Turkey Federation. Each year from 2010 to 2023, the NFT spent $140,000 on lobbying. The only years the federation exceeded its typical lobbying budget (2008, 2009, 2024, 2025) coincided with economic downturns.

The NFT’s recent lobbying efforts have been focused on bills addressing avian influenza and disease prevention, logistics and trade, immigration, and the impact of tariffs and retaliatory actions on the U.S. turkey industry.

In addition to lobbying, the NTF has funneled $2.4 million to federal candidates over the last 10 election cycles (2006-2024) through its political action committee, the National Turkey Federation PAC. On average, 33 percent of donations went to Democratic candidates while 67 percent went to Republican candidates. The PAC’s donations to federal candidates have increased 238 percent from 2006 to 2024, with $106,369 donated in 2006 and $359,000 donated in 2024.

Over the past five election cycles, the NFT has given $389,500 to PACs and committees with 65 percent of donations ($251,500) to Republican committees and the remainder ($109,000) to Democratic committees. A majority of the contributions were made to candidate’s leadership PACs in the top turkey-producing states: Minnesota, North Carolina, Arkansas, Indiana, Missouri, Virginia, Iowa, and Pennsylvania.

The National Turkey Federation has ensured turkeys stay on America’s tables thanks in part to the seat it’s carved out at Washington’s table.

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