Pumpkin outlook patchy

Kurt Christ, the owner of Christ Orchard in Elmwood, grows and sells jack-o'-lantern pumpkins, not pumpkin pie pumpkins. But he knew something was askew in the wider world of pumpkins when a customer recently asked if he sold pumpkin in a can.

"They were from Canton and said they checked (grocery) stores all over and couldn't find any canned pumpkin anywhere," Christ said. "I couldn't help them out."

Dire as that sounds, there is good news to report: It appears that the canned pumpkin crisis is over, or soon will be.

"We experienced unfavorable weather conditions last fall which limited the size of our harvest, which meant we had very little surplus entering this season," said Roz O'Hearn, a spokeswoman for Nestle, the company that owns Libby's and its pumpkin canning facility in Morton. "This year's planting also was affected by rainy weather, but the harvest is under way now, and we are now shipping Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin."

Bill Shoemaker, a researcher at the University of Illinois Horticulture Research Center in St. Charles, also pointed to last year's pumpkin harvest as the reason for this season's shortfall.

"Right now, the market is experiencing a gap in the need for canned pumpkin and the current availability of it in the stores," Shoemaker said in prepared remarks. "This year's crop is at the processing plant now. There may be a delay, but this year's pumpkin crop is coming to the rescue in time."

Shelves in many supermarkets were bereft of canned pumpkin in September, just as the seasonal consumer interest in the product increased. Mark Wrhel, the owner of Haddad's Supermarket in West Peoria, said he ran out of canned pumpkin a month ago and just now is able to order more.

"We had it back in stock last week, but there is still a limit on how much we can order," Wrhel said.

Schnuck's spokeswoman Lori Willis said the St. Louis-based grocery store chain was out of canned pumpkin for a few days in early September but can now order and sell as much as it needs.

"We are in good stock of canned pumpkin," Willis said.

Libby's is the national brand with the largest market share, between 80 percent and 90 percent.

"Our pumpkin comes from the rich farmland around Morton. We have about 5,000 acres there planted with our select pumpkin seed, and our canning facility operates 'round the clock once harvest begins," O'Hearn said. "We'll work till we have all the pumpkin in or until the first hard frost hits."

University of Illinois plant pathologist and resident pumpkin expert Mohammad Babadoost said this season's harvest should mean no repeat shortage of canned pumpkin in the fall of 2010.

"There may be fewer pumpkin crops in the northeastern states than expected, but to my knowledge, there is no shortage of pumpkins in the Midwest, certainly not in Illinois. We have had a record processing pumpkin acreage in Illinois in 2009. The only problem was that harvesting of processed pumpkin began about 10 days later than usual, due to the wet season and a delay in planting."

Christ said the success of his decorative pumpkin season still hangs in the balance.

"Right now I got about one-third (of the pumpkin crop) bad, one-third good and one third still green/orange," he said. "I've got my eye on this weekend, when they're saying there might be a frost. If there is, it could be trouble for the green and orange ones. If it doesn't freeze early, it could be a pretty good year."

Scott Hilyard can be reached at (309) 686-3244 or at shilyard@pjstar.com.