DES MOINES, Iowa — Farmers are encouraging consumers to shop locally for their Thanksgiving meals this year.
The National Farmers Union claims just 2 to 3 cents of each dollar spent on a Thanksgiving meal makes it back to the farmers who produced the ingredients.
The USDA says, year-round farmers only get 14.3 cents of every dollar that consumers spend on food.
That number is even less when it comes to holiday meals.
Local farmers believe that buying locally can bring more back into the local economy, in turn helping customers.
"The share that the farmer gets for that food dollar, goes way up and it helps our local economy even more because those dollars get to stay local," said Aaron Lehman said, president of the Iowa Farmers Union.
Instead of 66 cents earned off a $21.89 turkey estimated by the National Farmers Union, locally buying turkeys allows farmers to get a larger share of the money.
"We're capturing all of the dollars from our turkey's and we're keeping them here on our farm and we're spending them in our local community," Marquardt said.
Buying locally can also give consumers a better sense of what is in their food.
"So, we have a lot more control over knowing where that animal came from, how it was raised and delivering that kind of quality to you at the end," said farmer Ryan Marquardt, who works on Marquardt Wild Rose Pastures.
Ultimately, farmers want people to realize the work put in to bring holiday meals to the table.
"Farmers work every single day of the year to make sure they're producing safe and nutritious and delicious food for us. So, thanksgiving is a good opportunity to thank our farmers and our food system workers," Lehman said.
If you want to buy locally, farmers said a good place to start looking is the Iowa Food CO-OP, a year-round online farmers' market for central Iowa customers.