With fall in full swing, pumpkin sales are up. But in Illinois, the production of pumpkin products is a year-round effort.
Illinois is the nation’s largest pumpkin-producing state, and produces nearly all the nation’s canned pumpkins.
Mohammed Babadoost, a plant pathology professor at the College of Aces, said the significance of pumpkins in Illinois is measurable.
“We grow almost all, at least 90% of canned pumpkins, meaning that if Illinois fails in pumpkin production there would be no pumpkin pie,” Babadoost said.
Other states, such as Indiana, Ohio, New York and California, produce seasonal pumpkins for decoration, but not for processing, he said.
Several factors make Illinois a suitable place to grow pumpkins.
Nathan Johanning, an extension educator in commercial agriculture, said Illinois’ weather is one of them.
“We do have an ideal environment,” he said. “Pumpkins do like the summer, like a balance between summer heat and then also not too hot. You get a little further south and in the U .S. the pumpkins get a little more challenged in performance.”
Additionally, pumpkins can tolerate drought better than excessive moisture, he said.
Illinois’ central location also makes it easier to transport canned pumpkin products from major canning facilities, like Nestle’s Libby’s in Morton, to destinations all across the country. In addition to the ornamental pumpkin market and local farms, Illinois boasts large-scale wholesale pumpkin production, especially in southern Illinois. There, pumpkins harvested from thousands of acres of land get sent to stores across the nation.
At Curtis Orchard & Pumpkin Patch in Champaign, store manager Rachel Coventry said this year’s fall season started off warmer than usual. But the warmer weather has a bigger impact on the people visiting, not the pumpkins.
“People don’t like to come and spend the day here, necessarily, because it doesn’t feel like Fall to them,” she said. “But otherwise, at this point, the pumpkins are done growing, or they’re ripening on the vine. And the pumpkins can handle heat just fine.”
Pumpkin production for both ornamental and processing sides has been good this year, Johanning said. He encourages people to visit local farms and purchase pumpkins, as those sales help drive the local economy.
IPM Student Newsroom’s Elissa Eaton contributed reporting.