‘A spooky season’: Drought and heat reducing pumpkin yield in Canadian farms
Global News
Drought and extreme heat are cutting into the size and supply of pumpkins that are usually carved into jack-o’-lanterns for Halloween or frozen and canned for food.
The pumpkin patches on a number of Canadian farms are starting to look a bit frightening across the country, but not in a way that makes them ready for Halloween.
“It’s sure been a spooky season,” said Greg MacKenzie, the owner of Mackenzie Produce in Stratford, P.E.I.
He said his own farm has a reduced yield of pumpkins this year. A number of vines have died off and the jumbo-sized orange fruit does not weigh as much as it should, he said.
Most of them might be too small to harvest this year, he added, which could cut into how much he is able to export to the United States.
“Normally we count on September rains to kind of save us,” MacKenzie said. “If we don’t see something in the next couple weeks, it’s going to be pretty hard to make it up.”
MacKenzie isn’t alone. Across Canada, some farmers have shared similar stories with The Canadian Press, explaining that drought and extreme heat are cutting into the size and supply of pumpkins that are usually carved into jack-o’-lanterns for Halloween or frozen and canned for food.
“We’re watching very closely every week just to see how things are progressing,” Mackenzie said “It’s a fine line of, you know, treading water at this point, but with no water to tread.”
There were few regions spared from this season’s punishing drought.
