Pumpkin shortage warning this Halloween as weather hits UK's patches

The country has just had its warmest summer since records began, the Met Office said, after widespread drought and several heatwaves.

Farmers say the dry conditions have left pumpkin patches significantly affected, with many crops struggling to grow and turning out much smaller than usual.

Liz Paterson and Andrew King know the damage first-hand.

The pair have run a successful pumpkin patch for several years at Ruffins Farm in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

This year, though, they have not been able to offer any of the crop, because the drought has “significantly” impacted the business.

Ms Paterson told the Press Association: “The pumpkins just didn’t grow this year. We could have tried to irrigate, we have got water, but we also have 500 breeding ewes, so we needed to give the water to them.”

“I think the weather was too hot as well, they just didn’t pollinate, so it just never worked at all really,” she added.

The farmer said the drought has been “horrendous for us financially but also emotionally because the grass didn’t grow either for our sheep”.

“Because of the drought we were struggling to feed or sheep and the pumpkins didn’t grow at all so it was really upsetting and worrying,” Ms Paterson added.

In previous years the couple have grown around 10,000 pumpkins.

This year, only around 50 developed.

The farmers fear there will be another drought next year due to the El Nino weather pattern.

They said they have been forced to make some “big decisions surrounding that”.

Ms Paterson added: “But because the public know us for pumpkins and love them so much, we will spend the money on buying the seed, and we will drill the pumpkin patch again, but if it doesn’t work then we’ll have to start thinking this climate doesn’t work for pumpkins. What else can we do?”

The picture is similar elsewhere in the country.

Niall Smith, who works at Picking Patch, a seasonal farm attraction in the New Forest, said “it’s the second summer where we’ve had real water problems”.

Unlike previous seasons, this year they asked a local family farm to grow their pumpkins for their Halloween events, he said.

Mr Smith added: “We managed to get some pumpkins, but I mean, the biggest one is 50%, 60% smaller than what our normal sizes are.

“And so we’ve kind of reimagined what we do. We have a pumpkin market, it all looks very pretty, but then we’ve gone very much into Halloween activities, and we’re not just a pick-your-own site.”

Mr Smith said pumpkins are “a lot smaller” this year across the country, adding: “I know there’s a lot of patches that have got very, very disappointing crops, and by half term they’ll be out.”

He said the people who grow and sell pumpkins do not have “extra capacity”, adding: “There’s no stock. You know, in normal years, if we need to, we can call up and find 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 pumpkins. This year, there’s not a chance.”

Ross Wright, a farmer from Exeter, said there has been a national shortage of pumpkins this year, particularly larger ones.

Asked whether this is a worry for him, he said “we’re just going to have to grow more acres to get the pumpkins we need for Halloween every year”.