A farmer from Lancashire has taken to Twitter to share what he says is the “truth about the turkey shortage” – which is that there is none.
Paul White, the main man behind Paul’s Turkeys, free-range turkeys reared with a strong emphasis on welfare (they even listen to classical music), has said that there is no such shortage of turkeys this year.
Saying that there is, he said, only further impacts farmers.
“There is no doubt that this year has been challenging for small turkey producers like us,” he said.
“The price of feed has gone through the roof, labour is pretty much non existent, and there have been additional costs trying to protect our birds from avian influenza.
“The coverage of the ‘shortage’ has only further impacted us.”
White believes that this scaremongering has made the public nervous. It has led them to buy frozen turkeys for Christmas he said, out of fear that they won’t be able to get free-range British turkey.
“That means that people like us (turkey farmers) have lots of turkeys left,” he said
“We’re really starting to worry.
“There is no shortage here. In fact, we have lots of heritage, ethically reared, free-range turkeys left, that we have sweated, cried and slogged our guts out over.”
“If you want a free-range turkey this year, please consider looking around, and supporting a small-scale producer,” White added.
The main impact of the free-range shortage, he believes, is to supermarkets and large-scale suppliers.
‘Plenty of turkey’
White’s post gained a lot of traction online since its original posting on Wednesday (November 30).
“We have been overwhelmed by the support we’ve received over the past 24 hours, as we’ve tried to let the public know that there is plenty of free-range turkey available this Christmas,” he said the next day.
However, he believes it’s already too late.
“A huge number of people have said that they’ve already bagged a frozen turkey from the supermarket, because they thought there’d be a shortage, even though they wouldn’t usually,” he said.
“We’ve also heard from other turkey suppliers, that their sales are slow too,” he added.
“We’re trying to make the best of the situation. The last thing we want to see is the birds wasted. And there are lots of families struggling this Christmas too.”
With this in mind, White has started Paul’s Farm’s ‘Feast It Forward’ voucher scheme, whereby for every eight £10 vouchers sold, one family that can’t afford a turkey this Christmas will get one.
