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Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday that Americans celebrate on the fourth Thursday in November. This autumn festival is traditionally celebrated with family and friends over a big meal that takes hours to prepare. The meal usually includes turkey served along with dishes like cranberries, sweet potatoes, green beans and pumpkin pie. The turkey is usually seasoned and roasted in an oven, but some people fry the bird in oil or cook it on a grill or in a smoker. The National Turkey Federation estimates that Americans ate forty-six million birds for last year's holiday. The government expects turkey production to increase two percent this year. About two-thirds of the turkeys raised in the United States came from six states: Minnesota, North Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri, Virginia and Indiana. Turkey is eaten all year, and Americans have been eating more of it over the years, though chicken, beef and pork are still more popular. Federation president Joel Brandenberger says twenty-twelve will not be as profitable for turkey farmers as the last two years were. Feed costs are up while turkey prices are about the same. "Corn is our number one feed ingredient, and the drought has obviously increased the price of corn dramatically and, frankly, the fact that an ever-increasing amount of the corn crop is being diverted to ethanol production also has increased the cost of corn. So that's created some difficulty for the industry this year." | 
