Morton, the self-proclaimed pumpkin capital of the world, is buzzing with activity as semis flow in and out of Nestle USA’s Libby Pumpkin facility. “This year’s crop is looking great,” says Allison Kolodziej Baker, Nestle USA. “The harvest began early last month, and will continue through October. Production is on target, and cans of this year’s pumpkin are already hitting store shelves for the upcoming baking season.”
Hot and dry conditions may not be ideal for all crops, but pumpkins are different. “Our pumpkins thrive in a hot, dry summer, so conditions in the Morton area were ideal for us,” explains Jim Ackerman, Libby’s agriculture manager. “Yields are a bit better than average this year.”
What are typical pumpkin yields? Babadoost says 23 tons (46,000 pounds) per acre is considered average for processed pumpkins, but 18 to 30 tons per acre is typical.
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Canned foods generally last through the apocalypse, as long as the cans are not dented or damaged.
Pumpkin harvest is going later than normal this year in Illinois, the nation’s leading producer of canned pumpkin and jack-o’-lantern pumkins. But reports from the halfway point of harvest show above-average yields coming through Libby’s canning plant in Morton, which processes 85% of pumpkin sold on store shelves.
Morton-area farmers raise the Dickinson variety, a slightly less photogenic pumpkin than heirloom jack-o’-lanterns. They usually aim for an April planting to get the crop mature early enough to feed the processor gradually up into November — when demand for the product spikes.
Like corn and soybean farmers in 2019, pumpkin farmers couldn’t get in the field until late May, finishing planting in early June. But a hot and dry summer meant the plants could catch up, building yield by creating more flesh than water.
“Since it’s an above-average crop, I think we will go into November,” says Jim Ackerman, Libby’s agriculture manager. “We’ve gone into mid-November before, but keep it warm and dry, and we’ll be fine for a later-than-normal harvest.”