Uneven Pumpkin Harvest Season
Weather Extremes and Rising Costs Create a Mixed Pumpkin Harvest Worldwide
Anonymous
Pumpkin growers are reporting a mixed season as heat, drought and flooding strain crops in some regions, while local conditions and adaptations have helped other farms produce healthy harvests. In North Carolina, Page Farms replanted and changed planting methods to preserve soil moisture, though drought and rising diesel costs remain challenges. In Devon, one grower has about 10,000 pumpkins suitable for picking and expects to spend £25,000–£30,000 on 20,000 replacements, while a farm with moisture-retaining clay soil reported a strong harvest. A Minnesota farmer said pumpkins ultimately thrived despite heat and drought, though a dry area led to canceled pick-your-own plans. In western Kentucky, heat kept customers away and forced a farm to postpone events despite a good harvest; flooding contributed to a pumpkin shortage in Indiana, while heavy summer rain helped produce a bumper crop at an Illinois farm.
Key Points
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At Pips Pick Your Own, Neil Hawken said every pumpkin seed is planted by hand, describing the work as requiring “a lot of money, a lot of investment, an awful lot of time.”
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Hawken said he normally grows 15,000 pumpkins and buys in another 15,000 each year, providing a baseline for how unusually large this season’s shortfall was.
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The South West harvest problems came during a provisionally record-breaking UK summer, according to farmers quoted in the report.
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Page Farms said filling its off-road diesel tank costs hundreds of dollars; the farm has a 300-gallon tank that it refills about weekly or every other week during pumpkin season.
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