The big bird at the center of your Thanksgiving table this year could be one of almost 8 million to come from turkey farms in Pennsylvania.
According to the U.S. Census of Agriculture, there were 942 turkey farms in the Commonwealth in 2022. Those farms produced roughly 222 million pounds of meat, valued at $209 million.
In Pennsylvania, turkey operations vary in size, from 100 to 150 birds at Dave and Holly Albert’s Misty Mountain Farm in Lycoming County, to the 7,500 that cycle through Becky Nas’ farm in Adams County.
Across the Commonwealth, 94 farms raise 30,000 or more.
This holiday season is an opportune time to recognize not only the value of the food turkey farmers put on our tables, but also how they balance productive operations with a commitment to a clean environment.
Dairy, beef, and pork operations are most often the center of attention when considering agricultural impacts on the environment.
Those who raise turkeys share similar economic and environmental concerns.
Many Pennsylvania turkey farmers have been taking action to manage polluted runoff to improve and protect the health of local rivers and streams.
The Alberts raise turkeys, beef, lamb, pork, and chickens, and sell the meat at the Williamsport Growers Market and to local restaurants.
The turkeys are processed at a state-inspected facility, and almost all are sold in one day at the market.
Misty Mountain Farm starts day-old turkey chicks in brooder (a heated enclosure) with a high protein, all-natural feed for four to six weeks.
The turkeys then go to outdoor pens that are moved daily, so they get a fresh, diverse mix of clovers, native grasses, and insects, supplemented with corn.
Turkey manure provides valuable nutrients to the farm’s soil, with the waste from the brooder pens applied on crop fields, while the turkeys in the outdoor pens spread their manure directly onto the land.
It provides a valuable resource for their pastures and the no-till corn, soybeans, oats, barley, and canola crops.
The farm also has a forested buffer between their livestock and a stream that now hosts reproducing trout.
On her farm outside of Gettysburg, Becky Nas added a 2,900 square-foot covered, concrete storage unit where turkey manure used to be piled up.
“With the storage, we can spread the fertilizer on fields only when necessary,” Becky says. “When it rains, it prevents polluted runoff from turkey manure washing into Rock Creek, just a stone’s throw away.”
Other conservation measures on the Nas farm include planting cover crops and no-tilling 550 acres to grow corn, soybeans, wheat and hay.
For Becky, the storage was made possible by financial support with state funding from the Agriculture Conservation Assistance Program (ACAP), which covered 90 percent of the cost.
She added a streamside buffer of 1,400 native trees and shrubs along a tributary to Rock Creek and received $20,000 in buffer bonus funds from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which covered the remaining balance of the manure storage.
Nationally, around 46 million turkeys are eaten around Thanksgiving, according to the US Poultry and Egg Association.
That's as many turkeys as the entire human population of Spain.
Dave Albert says the flavor profile of their meat is better than birds raised indoors and keeps customers returning year after year for the high-quality meat and the nutritional benefits from healthy livestock.
He prefers to brine and then roast turkey and shares a recipe with customers.
White or dark meat, drumstick or breast meat, from farmhouse or field, however you enjoy your turkey this holiday season, buying from local, conservation-minded farms ensures it was raised with good taste and a healthy environment in mind.
For more on Chesapeake Bay-related issues in Pennsylvania, visit the Chesapeake Bay Foundation-PA webpage. Click Here to sign up for Pennsylvania updates (bottom of left column). Click Here to support their work.
Also visit the Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership to learn how you can help clean water grow on trees.
(Photos: Becky Nas and Dave and Holly Albert)
Kelly O’Neill is PA Agricultural Policy Analyst for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Related Articles This Week:
-- DEP Awards $3.1 Million In Federal Funds To Support 8 Local Water Quality Improvement Projects In 8 Counties [PaEN]
-- York County Master Watershed Stewards Growing Native Trees For The Chesapeake Bay Restoration Effort [PaEN]
-- EPA, DEP Announce Hanover Foods Agrees To Pay $1.15 Million Penalty For Clean Water Act Violations At Its York County Plant [PaEN]
-- Penn State Extension/Alliance For The Chesapeake Bay: Dec. 10 Funding Forest Conservation Work Webinar [PaEN]
NewsClips:
-- Chesapeake Bay Program: The Decades-Long Effort To Restore Brook Trout Habitat In The Kettle Creek Watershed, Potter County
[Posted: November 19, 2025] PA Environment Digest
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