It wasn’t all that long ago that the thought of heading out to the movie theater would fill us with joy. These days, it feels us with fear. After all, the pandemic has changed the landscape of date night for many of us, and movie theaters are closed in many areas due to the threat of exposure to the virus.
We all enjoyed sitting back in our seats and getting lost in the movie for a couple of hours. There was also something else that we enjoyed about movie night, and that is having a great big tub of popcorn. Some people ate it with butter, other people without butter, but in either case, it was a delicious part of that night out.
These days, theaters are closing as a result of the pandemic and many of them are doing so permanently. This has left moviegoers a little upset, but it leaves farmers holding the bag. After all, they were busy growing the popcorn in their fields and these days, there is nowhere to sell it.
Good morning! Today we wanted to highlight a special project from Popcorn Central. To celebrate “National Popcorn…
Posted by Preferred Popcorn on Wednesday, October 7, 2020
According to some recent reports reported by FOX5DC, farmers who grow popcorn are now holding on to much of the unsold popcorn kernels and losing a lot of money in the process. On the other hand, microwave popcorn sales have been going through the roof as people are now making their own popcorn and sitting on their sofa to binge-watch their favorite movies. Some of the household brands, such as Jolly Time, Pop Secret, and Orville Redenbacher, have also seen a surge in sales.
Farmers have also tried to make the switch to selling to consumers directly. Accoridng to the Washington Post, one popcorn farmer said: “We work with Preferred to repack the giant bags into 28-ounce household bags, branded with Preferred Popcorn as a way to get recognized by consumers.” Preferred Popcorn was started by Nebraska farmers about 20 years ago and they are now one of the largest suppliers of movie theater popcorn in the United States.
Even if they are able to make the switch, farmers will still not be selling as much popcorn as they typically would during this year’s harvest. According to some estimates, more than 110 million pounds of popcorn kernels have not been sold.