Illinois grows the most pumpkins in America

Illinois grows more pumpkins that any other state in the union, and it’s widening its leadership gap over its neighboring Midwestern states, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). 

Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio also produce a lot of pumpkins, as do the agricultural mega-states of California and Texas.

Ironically, the USDA’s “pumpkin patch update” was reported by Jeff Arnold, who covers news in Illinois for Patch.com, an online publishing company that specializes in providing local news coverage. 

The USDA said Illinois has more than 16,000 acres of farmland dedicated to pumpkins and each acre yields about 40,000 pounds of pumpkins. No other state even comes close, Arnold remarked.

Illinois pumpkins are not so pretty, but they are tasty.

“In Illinois, 80% of the pumpkin harvest is devoted to pumpkin pie filling or other processed use of the product,” Arnold said. 

The other states have a much higher percentage share of their pumpkins used in the decorative, ornamental, specialty and jack-o’-lantern segments, rather than as a food source. 

One’s pumpkin patch need not be large. Joe Adkins of Wheaton, Ill., a suburban community west of Chicago, has found his niche – growing mammoth pumpkins in his backyard. This year he raised a whopper – an orange giant weighing 1,760 pounds. It was the largest in the state.

 

He told Patch.com reporter Anna Schier: “I have pumpkin juice running through my veins.” 

And while he has taken the Illinois “championship belt five times,” Adkins said he hopes to one day achieve his dream of growing a 2,000-pound pumpkin.

 

Joe Adkins is also a master carver. He is shown here with his family.

In 1978, Illinois Gov. James R. Thompson proclaimed that the Village of Morton (near Peoria) was the “Pumpkin Capital of the World.” About 90% of the world’s canned pumpkin was…and still is…processed at Morton’s Libby’s Pumpkin plant. 

This is the official mascot of the annual Morton Pumpkin Festival. 

The Libby’s plant opened in 1925 and initially processed an assortment of corn, peas and string beans. Since1970, though, the factory has been dedicated exclusively to pumpkins. 

Most of the pumpkins used for canning are grown within a 50-mile radius of the plant and are trucked in “ripe-off-the-vine” during harvest season.

 

Libby’s pumpkins don’t look like the bright orange pumpkins that are associated with Halloween. Its pumpkins are oval and rather goofy looking. Their color ranges from pale orange to soft tan. 

A Libby’s spokesman said its pumpkin product is rich in Vitamin A and ranks very high in fiber, which health experts say is vital to good health. This is why pumpkin is sometime referred to as a “superfood.” 

“Because the pumpkin is thoroughly cooked during the canning process, it’s perfectly safe to eat straight from the can.” And year-round. 

North Carolina ranks 11th among the states in pumpkin production, with the western counties leading the way. Pumpkins don’t do so well in areas that have high humidity. 

Of note, one North Carolina pumpkin festival has developed quite a following. It’s the Punkin Chunkin Festival near Brasstown in the southwestern tip of North Carolina, about mid-way between Hayesville and Murphy.

 

Sponsored annually on the third weekend of October by the Clay County Chamber of Commerce, the Punkin Chunkin Festival features catapults, air cannons, trebuchets, centrifugals and other powerful pumpkin chunkin machines. 

The pumpkin pie eating contest in Brasstown is a crowd favorite.

The object is to see whose team can hurl their pumpkins the farthest. Some pumpkin projectiles travel more than half a mile through the air. All this hoopla occurs in a vacant field adjacent to the Brasstown Air Field. One spectator said that a great shot can land in the Hiwassee River. 

It would be great fun to watch ‘em chunk some big old punkins into the ocean from the Atlantic Beach Circle in Carteret County, N.C.

Darn it. The Sea Notes bluegrass band of Hayesville, always a hit at the Punkin Chunkin Festival in Brasstown...only travels to gigs that are less than 100 miles from home.