The organic wheat market seems buoyed, but activity is light. Prices in Pennsylvania have increased above organic corn and recently traded close to 420 per short ton. The drought that is impacting the mid-west is beginning to stir up prices. Organic corn prices are alsobuoyed, trading near $390, while California prices have moved higher and are currently trading close to $395 per short ton. This movement puts some upward pressure on prices in the western mid-west, which are trading north of $8.40 per bushel.

The organic turkey market appears to be stabilizing, which is a good sign for consumers and producers. Organic turkey slaughter by weighed for March 2021 was down 6% year over year, following a surge as the pandemic took hold in March of 2020. The year-over-year monthly decline in organic turkey slaughter in the U.S. was the first decline in organic turkey slaughter in the past 12-months. The elevated level of organic turkey slaughter in March 2021 relative to March 2020 shows that demand for organic animal proteins remains strong and is likely to continue to hold the sector’s gains during the pandemic.

The trend in organic turkey slaughter remains upward sloping, with a regression analysis line pointing to a direction moving from the lower left to the upper right. Most of the losses in the organic turkey slaughter come from the number of birds slaughtered. The average weight per organic turkey killed increased 11% year over year. This scenario was countered by a 16% drop in the number of slaughtered birds in March 2021 compared to the number of birds killed in 2020.