If you like to eat pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, or other goodies that require canned pumpkin, you might want to stock up early this year. Unusually wet conditions have caused a significant decline in the production of pumpkins in Illinois, which produces 90% of the canned pumpkin in the US. Prices are already starting to rise in my area grocery stores, and there may be none left on the shelves by Thanksgiving. Once the available cans are gone, there will be no more production until next year’s harvest.
Note that this does not apply to jack o’lantern pumpkins, which come from other locations. So carve away!
You can read more about this from the Illinois State Climatologist at https://climateillinois.wordpress.com/2015/10/07/the-great-pumpkin-shortage-of-2015-in-illinois/. There is another related article at https://clarksvillenow.com/local/oh-no-we-might-be-facing-a-pumpkin-shortage-by-thanksgiving/.
