Thanksgiving dinner will cost you considerably more this year

Story from Here & Now. Listen to the above audio for a complete report.

According to a survey by the American Farm Bureau Federation, the price tag to feed 10 people a traditional Thanksgiving dinner is up $5.73, or about 13 percent over last year.

It’s the biggest jump since 1990. In calculating the costs, the Farm Bureau considers the price of turkey, bread stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, carrot and celery relish, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, plus milk and coffee.

John Anderson, senior economist at the American Farm Bureau Federation said the price of turkey alone is up 25 cents a pound for a 16 pounder, a 22 percent increase. He attributes the increase in part to the fact that turkey feed is mostly corn and the price of corn is up as demand for ethanol rises.

“Really, across the board, we saw increases in the price of most of the items on the survey,” he said.

Only carrots and celery didn’t see a price increase. They were actually down a penny.

Turkey production is actually higher, but demand for turkeys globally is growing rapidly and that is bolstering prices.

Anderson said another factor is retailers are being more aggressive about passing higher costs for shipping, processing and storing food to customers. Farm Bureau has been monitoring the price since the 1980s.

“Retailers have decided they can’t continue to absorb costs and they’re trying to recover some of that,” Anderson said.