Farm Bureau survey shows big drop in Thanksgiving food prices

When you enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with your family members, have you think about how much money did your family pay for the dinner ?
The survey showed that the cost of 13 basic items found on the Thanksgiving Day dinner table decreased from $37.43 in 2003 to $34.91 in 2004. This is the lowest price recorded by the survey since 2000, when the cost of the meal averaged $34.87. IFB volunteers scattered around the state collect the data for the survey at their local grocery stores.
Turkey itself dropped in price to 83 cents per pound, compared to $1.10 in 2003, which means that the price of a 17-pound turkey dropped from $18.17 to $14.11. This is the lowest price for this Thanksgiving staple since 1997, when turkey cost about 80 cents/pound, and it’s identical to the price shoppers paid in 1995.
“Farm prices go up and down depending on supply and demand,” noted Carolyn Hegel, IFB second vice president. “Most people’s income either continues to rise or stays the same. Low prices are wonderful for consumers, but may not be the best for farm families since they are often associated with lower farm income. “We Americans really take our abundant food supply for granted, but Thanksgiving is a good time to remember what we do have, and that it all starts with farmers,” Hegel added.
In addition to turkey, decreases were recorded for rolls, which dropped from $2.66 for two dozen to $2.60 and 16 ounces of frozen peas, down by 8 cents to $1.16. In addition, two items were unchanged in price: 5 pounds of potatoes for $1.84 and 1 pound of sweet potatoes, 93 cents.
Eight items in the market basket increased in price, most by 10 or 20 cents but none by more than 50 cents: a 14-ounce bag of stuffing, which increased by 49 cents to $2.47; a 30-ounce can of pumpkin pie mix, up by 10 cents to $1.17; two frozen pie shells, up 14 cents to $1.76; a 1-pound bag of carrots, up 12 cents to 81 cents; celery, up 15 cents to $1.34; 1 gallon of whole milk, up 34 cents to $2.84; cranberries, up 12 cents per 12-ounce bag to $1.75; and one-half pint whipping cream, which rose by 22 cents to $1.59.
The IFB survey was first conducted in 1993 when the average cost of a Thanksgiving meal for a family of 10 was $32.50. Average prices from each year the survey has been conducted are listed below.
1993 – $32.50 1999 – $37.77
1994 – $30.51 2000 – $34.87
1995 – $31.35 2001 – $37.72
1996 – $34.07 2002 – $38.62
1997 – $31.85 2003 – $37.43
1998 – $31.98 2004 – $34.91
From the article, we can see that the main food for the thanksgiving dinner really decrease a lot, people can buy more with the same money than usual. Are the merchants really kind? We find that the price of some dairy food also increased. According to consumers psychology, people tend to consider less about price during the festival. Especially, they already bought some food with cheap price, they may not care too much about buying some food with higher price. May be these foodstuff with heigher price are complements for some necessary food. So I think merchants had never lose. The average cost of thanksgiving meal had a big change since 1999. What is the reason for this? May be some political reasons?