The hot, dry summer may have led to scorched fields and smaller crop yields – but pumpkin farmers have welcomed bigger, more colourful produce in time for Halloween.
“There’s probably a few less pumpkins per plant this year than some years,” says Jen Barker, who runs Yorkshire Pumpkins with her husband Rob.
The couple, who are based Cundall near Thirsk, have produced this year’s crop without external irrigation which has affected their total yield.
“We got rain in May which let the pumpkins germinate and that’s the critical bit for us,” says Rob, who is a third-generation farmer.
“If we don’t have the rain there we don’t get anything.”
Despite a dry summer, the Barkers think there are positives to the conditions, with some species thriving in the heat.
“A lot of them are from South America so they are very used to hot weather,” says Rob.
“Because it’s been so sunny, the colours are amazing and so actually there’s less rots.”
Jen agrees: “They are healthier overall and the colours this year look really good so the yellows are really yellow and the reds are really red.”
The couple are currently supported by a sustainable farming incentive (SFI) from the government but are worried what will happen when this funding runs out.
“We were given money to farm in a regenerative way, there’s benefits to us from a long-term sustainability point of view and there’s huge benefits environmentally from a biodiversity point of view,” says Rob.
“It’s quite disappointing at the moment that the latest SFI sold out in less than six hours.
“We’re still in a scheme but I don’t know what will happen when that runs out.”
