He also says he wouldn’t wait until Thanksgiving to buy pumpkin filling, though large canned-pumpkin manufacturer Libby tells FOX News Radio that it expects to meet all of its customers needs through out the fall and the holidays. The Midwestern state – which is responsible for about 90 percent of the U.S.-grown pumpkins – experienced a record rainfall in June causing the shortage, say farmers.
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Nevertheless, it appears that this year pumpkin pie may become more of an elusive luxury, since the harvest is one third smaller than the years before.
Love your pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving? Eventually, the ranchers have had to buy pumpkins at wholesale produce auctions twice a week.
“When you deal with Mother Nature”, said Jane Moran, owner of Moran’s Orchard in Neoga, Illinois, “you just have to take it and go on”.
You might want to start stocking up on canned pumpkin. The majority comes from the area around Morton, which calls itself the “pumpkin capital of the world” and is located about 160 miles south of Chicago. If the stock runs out in the coming weeks, it’s likely that canned pumpkin will be nearly impossible to find come Christmastime.
Roz O’Hearn, the company’s spokesperson, said she’s hoping there’s enough to make it to Turkey Day.
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A similar crisis affected Libby’s in 2009, when heavy rains destroyed the crop, leaving the fields full of rotting gourds. Farmers there are confident they can meet demands for the upcoming holidays. And that means the canned pumpkin needed for those pies could be missing on the shelves.
