Due to recent unpredictable weather, farmers say, it has been more difficult than usual to get jack-o’-lantern pumpkins to Texas porches this year.“We have seen one of the most extreme years that we have seen in farming,” says Tim Assiter, owner of Floydada Pumpkins in Floydada, Texas.
Assiter says that every year, some parts of the country have problems with the pumpkin crop. This time, hurricanes may have affected pumpkins Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas.
That’s because there was simply too much rain during harvest.
“It’s not that the pumpkins are not there,” he says. “It’s that the soil is so wet. Everything is hand-harvested. It is a very labor-intense crop, and we just can’t get the machinery logistically through the field to get the pumpkins loaded.”
Heat is another problem for pumpkins. On a hot day, Assiter says, “you better get some spice ready because you’re going to have a cooked pumpkin on your front porch.”
Still, Assiter says Texans can count on carving pumpkins this Halloween.
“The good news is we’re a little late, but we’re there now, and I think we’re going to get these out,” he says.
Written by Jen Rice.
Copyright 2020 KUT 90.5. To see more, visit KUT 90.5.