The Department of Agriculture will buy 20 million pounds of turkey meat to cut into a surplus that has pushed prices down.
"These purchases will remove excess turkey white meat from normal marketing channels," said Lon Hatamiya, administrator of the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service.
Turkey prices in July stood at 41 cents a pound, down from 45 cents a year ago.
Removing the surplus will bring supplies more into balance with demand, Hatamiya said Friday. The meat will be used for the national school lunch program.
U.S. farmers produced 7.1 billion pounds of turkey meat in 1996.
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