Elena Tittel’s story on the Spring Valley Hutterite Colony’s economic activities includes some notable discrepancies between how much our turkey industry claims to be making and how much official government figures show:
According to South Dakota Poultry Industries Association, Hutterite colonies are the top producers of turkey in the state of South Dakota, with an average of 5 million turkeys a year.
Data from the South Dakota Governor’s Office of Economic Development showed that in 2024, 128.5 million pounds of poultry were produced in the state with a value of $72.1 million.
Huron is home to Hutterite-owned Dakota Provisions, a meat processing facility. Many Hutterite colonies, including Spring Valley, ship their turkeys to Dakota Provisions. According to Dakota Provisions’ website, farming families have invested over $120 million in cutting-edge turkey production facilities.
The business started in 2004 with 44 independent growers. Now, they produce more than 200 million pounds of product annually, its website states [Elena Tittel, “Hutterites’ Agricultural Contributions in South Dakota,” South Dakota News Watch, 2026.08.28].
The Governor’s Office of Economic Development evidently gets its data from the USDA, which reports 2.8 million turkeys raised yielding 128.52 million pounds of turkey meat valued at $72.1 million.
SDPIA says it’s raising 5 million turkeys a year. USDA counts only 2.8 million turkeys from South Dakota in 2024.
Dakota Provisions says it produces more than 200 million pounds of product a year. USDA says the whole state produced only 128.52 million pounds of turkey in 2024.
USDA’s figures show South Dakota ranking 13th in turkey numbers, 12th in production by pound, and 12th in value in 2024. SDPIA’s 5-million-bird claim would jump us to 11th in numbers, just behind California’s 5.2 million turkeys. Dakota Provisions’ 200-million-pounds claim would boost South Dakota to 11th, ahead of California’s 167.44 million pounds (California must raise skinnier turkeys—beach bodies, I suppose) but still behind Pennsylvania’s 219.45 million pounds.
I’m inclined to take government numbers over industry claims.
A note for producers and shoppers: The USDA figures the average value per pound of America’s 200 million turkeys was 56 cents. One survey of grocery stores nationwide found Thanksgiving turkeys selling for $2.08 per pound.
Fat Turkeys: USDA data show South Dakota raises some of the fattest gobblers in the country. Our average of 45.9 pounds per turkey in 2024 was the second-highest among the country’s top turkey producers. Only Iowa’s T-birds topped ours at 46.3 pounds. Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana also produced turkeys weighing in at over 40 pounds. The lightest turkeys in the country came from Minnesota (28.7 pounds) Pennsylvania (28.5), Virginia (28.1), Missouri (21.6), and, with the lightest weights, Arkansas (20.5).