Expect to see increased prices for Thanksgiving dinner items

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- As more families gather to celebrate the holidays, we'll likely see the cost of Thanksgiving dinner increase.

"it's going to be more expensive for Turkey this year, but there could be bargains out there," says Kevin Bergquist, Sector Manager for Wells Fargo's Food and Ag Industry Advisors. "You just never know. Every grocery is a little bit different."

Bergquist says it's supply and demand that's impacting the price of the center plate item.

"Well, from a wholesale perspective, which is what the Turkey producers receive those prices over the last several years have more than doubled, or nearly doubled," he said.

The wholesale price per pound went from 80 cents to $1.41 over two and a half years.

Frozen turkey prices are down but they may be harder to find.

"There's just not as much volume in the frozen turkey cold storage supply chain, so there's just less turkey there and that has to do with those production cutbacks," Bergquist said.

Though nationally we'll see the price of Thanksgiving dinner increase, here in the Central Valley, we won't be hit as hard as most of what we have on our dinner table is locally sourced.

Fresno County is home to nearly 2 million acres of the world's most productive farmland -- boasting more than 300 different crops.

"When you talk about most Americans thanksgiving dinners, there's a good chance that something from the Valley is ending up on their plates but we as farmers don't see that increase right now," says Fresno County Farm Bureau CEO Ryan Jacobsen.

Jacobsen says we'll likely pay more because of a domino effect with other parts of the supply chain.

That includes the price increase on transportation, labor, supermarkets and processors.

"Unfortunately, from the farm side, we're not benefiting from increased prices that we're seeing right now," he said.