To editor:

On behalf of the more than 450 turkey farmers across Minnesota, we wish to say Thank you to the essential turkey industry workers who are so important to getting turkey from our farms to family’s supper tables. On this Labor Day, we wish you a well-deserved day off to spend with your family and friends. To stock the shelves of grocery stores with nutritious and delicious turkey, it takes dedicated workers in hatcheries, feed mills, processing plants, and the transportation sector,in addition to farm families like ours. Thank you for working so hard to keep the food supply chain working in Minnesota and across the nation. Our state is the number one producer of turkey in the nation. Many of our farm families are third, fourth, or sixth generation turkeygrowers. We take great pride in feeding people here and across the globe -so much so that we donate to Hunger Solutions -a non-profit dedicated to ending food insecurity for Minnesota families. We wouldn’t be where we are today without essential turkey industry workers putting in long hours to keep up with the demand. Thank you so much from our families to yours.

— Paul Kvistad is president of the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association and John Peterson is president of the Minnesota Turkey Research Promotion Council