Following a summer of heatwaves, a farmer has warned that the UK could experience a shortage of pumpkins this Halloween.
Guy French, who runs Foxes Farm, has said the drought has had a knock-on impact on yield. He told the Daily Telegraph: “The quality of the pumpkin is good – the skin finish is good, they’re a really good orange. But… you just haven’t got the volume there.”
The prediction follows a declaration of drought for all of South West England by the Environment Agency.
William Tyrrell, who farms near Spalding, Lincolnshire, says the drought has caused his pumpkin crops to ripen too early, leaving him to harvest them months before October.
William said: “The heatwave has limited the yield and made them ripen early. You can put these pumpkins into controlled storage to hold them until October, but if we harvest them, it ruins the experience for the public coming to pick their own.”
